West Coast are almost certain to be denied any AFL matches on home soil this season beyond the first week of the finals because of Western Australia’s hard border restrictions.
The Eagles sit fourth on the ladder with three matches left to play and are likely to earn the right to at least one home final under the regular top-eight system.
But WA state government restrictions require teams to quarantine for seven days in a hub before playing matches at Perth’s Optus Stadium.
It presents a significant hurdle for the AFL in a four-week finals series.
“We’d like to play a (West Coast) home final in Perth and in week one maybe the (pre-finals) bye helps us with that,” AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan told reporters on Wednesday.
“But we need to work through the logistics of a seven-day hard quarantine and see whether it’s possible to do that.
“Clearly in South Australia we don’t have those challenges.
“I think a preliminary final (in Perth) is difficult and I’ve spoken to West Coast about that.
“I think week one is possible, but I think it’s more difficult after that.
“When you’re trying to get a fixture away and you’re getting clubs going into a seven-day hard quarantine, I think it’s very challenging.”
West Coast will earn a home qualifying or home elimination final in week one if they finish first, second, fifth or sixth on the ladder.
“We’ll do our best job to see if we can, in week one, get a home final there, knowing we’ve still got to work that through,” McLachlan said.
Unlike West Coast, ladder leaders Port Adelaide will be allowed to host lead-up finals at their regular home ground at Adelaide Oval because clubs can move freely between South Australia and their temporary bases in Queensland without having to quarantine.
WA’s hard border also saw the AFL rule out Optus Stadium as a viable option to host the grand final, which will be played on October 24 at Brisbane’s Gabba ground in front of a crowd of about 30,000 fans.
The door is open for WA to ease restrictions on October 24 and for capacity crowds of about 60,000 fans to be allowed at Optus Stadium, but McLachlan said the AFL had been given no guarantees.
“It’s an amazing venue and they could get to a similar capacity (but) they’ve got the toughest borders in the country,” McLachlan said.