The AFL has called the season-opening clash between Brisbane and Geelong as well as Saturday night’s match between the Gold Coast and Essendon as Tropical Cyclone Alfred continuing to threaten the coast of Queensland and Northern NSW.
The Lions and Cats are set to meet at GABBA on Thursday night with the ruling premiers to launch the 2025 season with the hope of their premierhip flag. Both sides will rather play on a future date still to decide AFL.
The scheduled home of the Suns’ home against the Bombers at the People First Stadium is also posting after AFL discussions with the Queensland government, the Bureau of Meteorology and Stadiums Queensland.
AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon announced that the two matches will be postponed after an emergency meeting of the Liga weights in Sydney on Tuesday.
“As I said yesterday, the priority is that we do our best to ensure the health and safety of everyone inside and around any potential cyclone zone or community affected by the forecasting of heavy rainfall and storms,” Dillon said.
“This is a uncertain situation that does not open, and our thoughts are all with Southeast Queensland and northern NSW that may be affected. Ultimately, we hope that this season will not happen, but we know that everyone needs to prepare accordingly and we do not want our games to be a chaos in preparations.
“We want to make a decision today to reassure clubs and fans in an uncertain environment and allow anyone from Queensland who is usually involved in this game by coaching, playing, attending or working in place time to be with their families and available in the community as needed.”
Bureau of Meteorology data showed Tuesday that the tropical cyclone would hit the coast of Queensland on Thursday night or Friday morning. Alfred upgraded to a category of two storms early on Tuesday.
The opening of the AFL will now start on Friday night when Sydney host Hawthorn at SCG. Greater Western Sydney and Collingwood will meet at Engie Stadium on Sunday afternoon as the feature is reduced to only two matches.
The NRL is still making a decision whether to postpone the match between Dolphins and South Sydney at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium on Friday.
The A-Leagues are still to call on whether to postpone women’s match between Brisbane and Melbourne City at Perry Park scheduled for Sunday night, while the Roar Men’s squad will fly earlier than planned to deal with Adelaide United Away on Saturday.
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Golf officials in Australia had earlier decided to cancel the WPGA championship due to the start on Thursday in the course of the Sanctuary Cove in the Gold Coast.
“With the predicted high rainfall, intense winds and expected flooding, the decision was made to ensure the safety of players, staff, fans and all stakeholders,” WPGA said in a statement.
Pressing football and surfing belongs to other sports to call the major events with a single-day rain that total up to 400mm predicted late on Sunday.
The touch football national championships at Coffs Harbor will be rescheduled, as will be Australia’s surfing boardrider in the Gold Coast.
The Queensland Surf Lifesaving Championships that are set to start Friday in North Kirra in the Gold Coast is canceled.
