McLachlan warns games without crowds a possibility due to coronavirus

right thing to do would be postponing it like nba,only way to be really serious about knocking it on the head

IMHO, I would not expect any membership refund (I just have a GA 11 game) if games are lockouts. But the AFL ought to air all games on free-to-air (there are ample channels) & subsidise free Kayo subscriptions for members to make games accessible.

With some of the all time great Adelaide oval games.

Both after the siren goals against West Coast is up there.

You must have had some awful moments.

Well aware of the issues in Italy ATM and as a country with its location to the middle east, north Africa and being part of mainland Europe it is geographically a different place to Australia so that kind of decision make sense. Andrews was fear mongering as was the Victorian health ministers diatribe over the weekend, an island nation can quarantine itself with extreme ease to avoid any Italy like lockdown if it so wishes. And unless we choose to stop travel between countries forever the spread of this virus will never slow or stop.

Dude I live in Italy, it's already happened here. all public events are shut down, my entire city has been more or less shut down, there are no open bars, my school is closed until at least April. we are staying at home and living. Andrews wasn't fear mongering, he was being honest. Shutting public events like the football down is a real possibility for Australia, It's already happened with champions league in Europe (Bayern Munich v Chelsea) and it isn't the end of the world but it will help stop the spread.

It's already out there in Melbourne so shall we shut down shopping centres, public transport, the cbd workforce, apartment living or any other important societal mass gathering and just stay at home instead of living, it's a virus and it's travelling, unfortunately people will die and like all viruses it will appear again next year so on and so on, scare mongering like Andrews did yesterday was some of the worst leadership I've ever seen in Australian politics.

Toby Greene will be the first player suspended for licking his opponents.

I think a few people are missing the point, if you're young and healthy sure you can get the virus and you'll be fine after 2 weeks, but you risk infecting everyone around you and spreading it further to older people who are at risk. The closed doors football is necessary until this calms down.

I would rather attend a match and risk getting sick than stay home and have to endure channel 7's cringeworthy football coverage.

Italy has had 9,172 cases and 463 deaths. That works out to 1 death out of every 20 who are infected. Of those who died, 88 percent of fatalities were over 70 while 10 percent were in their 60's and just 1 percent were in their 50's. Italy's 5 percent mortality rate is higher than the 3.5 percent global average because of it's older population at an average age of 46, but Australia's average of 37.2 is much younger. Still, there are quite a lot of retired people in Australia who could be vulnerable. If sporting competitions have to be held behind closed doors, so be it.

it just shows we're ahead of the curve :silly:

Australia has the advantage of heat. The hotter, humid climates have been vastly more effective. And in Singapore, a ridiculously proactive government has been on the front foot the whole time, keeping us informed with twice daily texts, keeping the leash on the media, and putting in place very very effective isolation policies. What has helped beyond question, is a very patient and accepting society willing to go through a bit of temporary inconvenience for the greater good.

It might not be far off in NSW. It hasn't got out of control yet, and new case daily numbers low; but its clearly uncontained and growth in those circumstances has led to it rising rapidly elsewhere. That said, we've had a bit more time to prepare than Italy or South Korea had, and live in lower density cities (even in most of Sydney), so might be more effective at maintaining lower numbers than they had without going to such measures.

And that's what many people should learn about media reports. Every time a "disaster" or "crisis" happens the basis for this relates to seeing the worst case scenarios for the related event and reporting this as though it is certain to happen. The reality almost always is something in between best case and worst case scenarios, but that doesn't translate to clicks or is worthy enough to fill the 24 hour news cycle. Sure it doesn't mean that it could happen, especially as it has happened elsewhere, but the likelihood is that fear will keep people away rather than force, as I know there will be many that will ignore the advice.

Well that’s fair enough. Don’t think it will be necessary but it’s best to be prepared for the worst case scenarios.

I imagine it won't be the end of the world.

The Vics will be happy, they think the Eagles can't win a game at home without a crowd.

What do the other Premiers say?