AFL clubs could make a mass exodus out of New South Wales as the league looks to stay ahead of the rising COVID-19 cases in the state, according to veteran journalist Caroline Wilson.
Wilson spoke on Nine's Footy Classified and said the AFL plans to to move Sydney and Greater Western Sydney out of the state, also throwing NSW's bid for the AFL Grand Final in jeopardy.
NSW recorded 14 new cases on Monday and that figure is set to continue to rise on Tuesday with a number of recorded outbreaks. These numbers are of great concern to the AFL, especially after the league moved all Melbourne teams after a significant rise in cases around Melbourne.
“Football is now really concerned about the numbers… really concerned about those numbers and what could happen. We‘ve seen Gillon McLachlan and his team stay ahead of the curve,” Wilson said.
“What the AFL has done is lock down four high-performance centres on the Gold Coast. They‘re rolling contracts. You ask people, and they say, the AFL have got them for as long as they need them.
“That might be September, it might even be October, we don‘t know where this season is going to finish up.
“But NSW has become a real concern. The grand plan now is to relocate both Sydney and the Greater Western Sydney out of New South Wales potentially to the Gold Coast.
“It obviously makes the Grand Final question more interesting too, because, what if it can't be in NSW? What if it has to be moved further north?”
