The AFL is warily monitoring the situation amid fears the league’s season opener on Thursday night could be cancelled due to Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
Reigning premiers Brisbane are set to face Geelong at the Gabba in a rematch of last season’s preliminary final, the first of four matches to be played this weekend in the AFL’s controversial ‘Opening Round’ before a full nine-match round returns for Round 1 next week.
However, concerning reports from the Bureau of Meteorology suggest the tropical cyclone, which is predicted to make landfall in Brisbane on Thursday, could severely impact the game – if not force it to be postponed.
It would be the first time in 33 years a cyclone has made landfall as a categorised system in south-east Queensland.
Up to 600mm of rain and winds of 130km/h are forecast in the lead-up to the game, according to Channel 7 sports reporter Mitch Cleary, which would leave Gabba groundstaff scrambling to have the surface in acceptable condition for an AFL match.
However, the forecast has since softened, with reports on Sunday afternoon that only 4-40mm of rain forecast.
The AFL will nevertheless keep a close eye on the forecast.
“We will continue to monitor the situation over the coming days and be in step with Government advice,” a league spokesperson said.
Aside from the enforced scrapping of the 2020 fixture due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the league have only once outright cancelled a game – Geelong’s clash with Adelaide in 2015, which was called off due to the death of Crows coach Phil Walsh.
According to Herald Sun reporter Jon Ralph, the AFL are ‘reasonably confident’ the match will be played according to schedule.
The news was met with amusement from AFL fans, given the impact the cyclone is set to have on Opening Round – already a polarising topic among the public since its inception for the 2024 season.
“Even God thinks Round Zero is a shit idea,” one commenter wrote, while another said the NRL would be ‘laughing their nuts off’ at the development.
“Tropical Cyclone Alfred poised to wreak havoc on the opening night of the AFL season,” ABC commentator Quentin Hull wrote on X.
“Huge rain & gale-force winds are forcecast for Thursday when Brisbane and Geelong are set to open the season at The Gabba.”
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