Manuka Oval has emerged as a potential contingency plan for this year's AFL Women's competition, should ongoing border restrictions between NSW and other states prevent the GWS Giants' women's team from re-entering Sydney.
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The Giants women travelled to Adelaide on Friday having spent the past two weeks outside of Sydney training in Albury in regional NSW, which now allows them to enter South Australia.
They'll play a practice match against the Crows on Sunday and are scheduled to begin their campaign on January 31 against Fremantle in Perth.
But AFL Women's officials are facing a fixturing nightmare, given current border restrictions. GWS was slated to play in Sydney in round two, but fulfilling that fixture is not possible, given travel restrictions they would then face in subsequent weeks.
One option the AFL is considering is splitting into two mini conferences for the first half of the season. The Giants could join Adelaide, and the two Perth teams and play against each other over the first three rounds, while Melbourne-based teams play in Victoria.
If the Giants then moved to Canberra for the second half of the season, visiting teams would be allowed in to play games, and GWS would still be able to travel interstate if required.
Eight Big Bash matches have already been played at Manuka this season, with Cricket Australia leaning heavily on Canberra to maintain their competition, given the pre-Christmas COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney. Two more BBL games will be played there before the competition moves south.
The Giants women were already scheduled to play the Gold Coast Suns in Canberra on March 6, but now the club is exploring the option of playing all of their home matches there should health restrictions around Sydney stay as they are.
"Our preference would be to play all of our home games at Manuka if we can't get into Sydney at all," Giants chief operating officer James Avery said.
"There's still a lot to happen. It might be that we have to play away for the first half of the season and we back end our home games."
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GWS's women's team was originally scheduled to play five home matches this season - four in Sydney and one in Canberra. One of those Sydney games was scheduled for Giants stadium, a day before the men's team began their 2021 campaign against St Kilda.
In a statement released on Friday, the AFL said it would operate with maximum flexibility this season.
"While the pandemic continues to impact the community, the health and welfare of everyone in the game and in the community remains the priority and the AFL is committed to delivering a full season in a safe manner anchored in the advice of public health officials and medical experts," the statement said.
James Buckley
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
