Twelve teams will be on the Gold Coast for round six matches. St Kilda, Essendon, North Melbourne, GWS, Richmond, Sydney, Carlton and Western Bulldogs will join the four clubs that have been based there for a month - West Coast, Fremantle, Adelaide and Port Adelaide.
Geelong, Melbourne, Brisbane, Collingwood, Gold Coast and Hawthorn will be in Sydney.
The AFL on Friday also released an updated fixture for rounds six and seven. All nine matches in round six will be held in Sydney, at the SCG and Giants Stadium, in south-east Queensland, at the Gabba and Metricon Stadium.
The Victorian clubs will leave for their hubs as soon as this weekend's round is completed and undergo quarantine.
“Essentially, Queensland is going to be the home of the AFL, they should give us the grand final after this,” Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.
“Four teams are going to be on the Gold Coast and two on the Sunshine Coast.
“There will be a lot more matches at the Gabba and Metricon and of course our capacity is 50 per cent of the public being able to go see these sports stars in action.
“(They’ll be here) for the rest of the season is my understanding.”
AFL chief Gillon McLachlan said the "the health and safety of our people and the wider community is paramount".
"We will continue to make decisions that are anchored in the advice of Governments and designed to protect our people and the wider community," he said.
“I have said on a number of occasions that this would be a season of challenges. And that the one certainty is that before we completed the 2020 AFL premiership season there would be more unique challenges along the way.
“I want to thank the Governments in NSW, Queensland and WA for their support in helping us set up a series of high-performance centres that will see interstate teams based in their state in accordance with all the strict local protocols and playing games.
“I would also like to thank all of our clubs, players, coaches, umpires and officials for their continued support and ability to adapt quickly as we navigate through the changing environment.”
“The Victorian clubs now temporarily moving interstate are playing their part in ensuring our season endures in a year that will continue to challenge us all.
"I have also often talked about the need for us to continue to be flexible and agile. As situations change across Australia so has our response. And it will continue to do so.”
Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said his team was ready to join a hub but players had the option of remaining in Melbourne.
"The difficult thing, I think for everyone who's going to a hub is just leaving their families behind," he said.
"I think we've got eight dads and the boys will make decisions on whether or not [they go]. We'd love to take everyone with us, we'll definitely take all our players.
"We're hoping to be able to take partners and young children if that's what the choice is — but there might be one or two who may not be able to go and that's fine and so we'll work through that.
"But I think everyone's probably looking forward to it more than anything and continuing on with the season and it probably eliminates a lot of the risk, back here.
"We'll have some freedoms after the quarantine and I think all our crew are looking forward to that."
South Australia Health Minister Stephen Wade said on Friday that his state had not been prepared to be a hub.
"Australian rules football is a cherished part of Australian life but public health has to come first," Wade said.
"We've already seen cases of community transmission from state to state and we need to make sure AFL is not a bridge for that.
"We are keen for there to be an AFL season this year but, in the context of Victoria being the hub of coronavirus infection at the moment, and also the base for the majority of the AFL teams, that's a very challenging environment for public health clinicians."
Jon Pierik is cricket writer for The Age. He also covers AFL and has won awards for his cricket and basketball writing.
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2020-07-03 03:00:42Z
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