makes sense

Yep this feels like a no brainer considering the current start date is a week before the international break. May as well start after the break, even for momentum reasons irrespective of the current outbreak. 

It will be interesting to see if they also introduce a no-jab/no-play policy for players. I reckon by Nov there will be big challenges for non-vaccinated people crossing borders (especially WA). It could mean that players are dropped from squads for interstate games as they may be required to quarantine for 2 weeks. Fully vaccinated players could then become preferred starting players as most coaches seem to prefer to keep the same starting 11 for every game. Non-vaccinated players will almost certainly find it difficult to renew a contract or sign elsewhere. We know that it is almost certain that fans will need to be vaccinated if they want to attend a game, so that same policy could be carried over to players/staff.

Goodbye to half of the Wanderers squad, most of them follow "Primod" which is an anti-vax propaganda instagram page and especially James Troisi with his anti vax story posting antics. 

Tomi Juric, Golec, Janjetovic, the list of current and ex Wanderers goes on. 

Airlines are introducing with gov backing no jab no fly... 

I'm sure every club has a few. It will be interesting to see if contracts could be terminated by clubs on the basis that the players cannot fulfill their playing duties because they cannot travel interstate. No point keeping a player if they can only play a handful of games.

Seems like a no-brainer.

100%. They'll be anti-vax right up to the point they have to be or they can't get work. I have 2 or 3 mates who were anti-vax ('Im not anti-vax I'm anti-mandatory') until reality smacked them upside the head.

They're all either booked to be vaccinated or vaccinated now.

Mariners CEO has suggested NSW games will be open to those double jabbed…

It matters if WA, SA, QLD open their boarders to NSW & VIC teams…

The forecast by is by mid Nov say from 19 Nov, the country will be at the 80% figure… play NSW teams in NSW, VIC teams in VIC and have WA play SA… it adds another week… meaning interstate travel on 26 Nov…

Comes down then to whether various gov’s are going to open up by 26 Nov… looks unlikely at this stage… but there is a greater chance of being open on 26 Nov than 30 October…

All states and territories should be at 80% by 5th Dec - some up to 90% so delaying until after the Nov FIFA dates and letting Wellington, SA, QLD and WA (assuming no large outbreaks there)  play each other the first few weeks and NSW and Vic teams play internally makes a lot of sense. Then reschedule the remainder of the year in the fairest way possible when all states are at 80%. .

Waiting for after the FIFA International window makes the most sense as it buys more time for full vaccination and states opening up to each other.
Can I ask, with the Aleague schedule, is there a system behind which team play each other three times and which two times home and away? This may be hard to schedule if the dates keep on getting pushed around .... or not???? What I mean is is it the top 6 teams from last year play each other 3 times, or is it based on derbies or what.... sorry to an outsider its not very clear.

I was initially against delaying the season. I still don’t really support it. But unless the APL can convince state governments to let teams travel interstate, then I’m not sure what choice we have. WA has always seemed to be the most resistant, but they have let AFL teams enter from Victoria (albeit under strict protocols) in recent weeks. I would hope the APL are working behind the scenes to get stuff organised.  


correct. If the clubs are smart, they would be doing their homework on potential signings… to suss out their views on vaccines. Signing players that refuse vaccines can/will disadvantage squads.


you're kidding yourself if you think QLD, SA and WA will open their borders to NSW and VIC if they reach 80%, but still have hundreds of daily cases. As i said above, the APL will need to get some agreement from various state governments in advance 

They should pump them all full of big pharma's "miracle" potions, so that they can serve as live, on-air guinea piggies for all of us to finally see whether or not the myoperidcarditis is as prevalent as it was with mice, during testing...

No aspiration = no resuscitation

The A-League should take one (or two, plus "boosters"... into perpetuity) for the team... It's simply the team-orientated thing to do 🙏

The weird thing is, if a 33-round season was deemed too long (I think it is the perfect length, but that's another issue), then it would have made all the sense in the world to just retain a 27-round season from the 10-team format, and divide the league into two geographical zones: NSW+QLD and VIC+SA+WA+NZ. Then play every team in your zone three times and every team outside of it twice. Still have a unified ladder (there wouldn't be conferences), but that way you have at least the semblance of an unrigged draw while still maximising the number of derbies, rivalry matches, etc. (only the Big Blue would be played twice rather than three times).

Instead they went with a 26-round season, with a traditional home-and-away followed by four rounds of fixtures decided on the basis of something something metrics something something. Expansion would allow for a traditional home-and-away season (first 26 games in a 14 team league, then 30 in a 16 team league, which should be the aim), and so it can't come soon enough.

You’re assuming the APL really care about what’s best for football. 

Was that ever not going to be the case, honestly!

Are you talking about aspirin or the contraceptive pill?  My personal favourite was a buddy trying to convince me that Bayer sold Pfizer all the stockpile of Zyclon B left over from the war and mRNA vaccs tech was pioneered  by Mengele in Auschwitz ... I told him he can have my vintage porn collection if I die and he is the last man left on earth.

I feel like I've lost quite a few brain cells reading this.

That's one lonely brain cell in there 

https://thewest.com.au/news/coronavirus/premier-mark-mcgowan-reveals-was-hard-border-may-stay-closed-until-april-2022-ng-b881998370z

Lol janjetovic. Haven’t seen his name in a while. Funnily enough on Twitter the other day a video popped up of whne the wobblers played brisbane and he touched that ball from a back pass and conceded a corner then Brisbane scored to make it 2-2. 

True, but more importantly, it's common knowledge that he is driven purely by money. He's always hunting for the best deal possible, Anti-vax views will almost certainly effect his opportunities for money. My bet is that many people like him will be fully vaccinated in private while maintaining their anti-vax social media persona.

This is exactly what I was thinking about that poor excuse for a human. 

If I were club management and I had players that refused to get the Vax and that affected their ability to play id do everything I could to get them out of the club. Not only would these players be actively not doing everything they can to do their job they would be the most likely source of an infection getting into the club. Surely worksafe could then be involved when we get further down the track. 

I'm all for delaying the start,  if late November doesn't look likely for all of Australia to be open but late December does, then I'd wait till then (though the possibility of nsw, vic teams playing away matches for the first month would also work)
A-League always had a better chance on not going in and out of lockdown like other codes, let's do the best we can to avoid it and wait for this to die down or governments pivot. 

Perhaps the clubs or the FFA would put their hands up to be liable for any side affects players may get from mandating jabs?
i wonder if they would do that? 

Surely no jab no enter exemption will be brought in, the likes of McGowan who wants to open the border in April/May will just delay the inedible anyway.

well with the NSW government deciding to open up at 70% (which is really 55% of the whole population), COVID cases will skyrocket and will escape into all of the other states anyway. So yep, you are probably correct.

Whatever is arranged could get blown out of the water in quick time.

Now knowing that its looking like mid Oct parts of Sydney will be starting to have looser restrictions followed by melb etc I can imagine the outcrys by Dec or earlier how many infections have blown out, deaths increasing and people crying out for "control" despite them not wanting it, we will get locked up once again if my gut feeling.
Glady and all are talking about no entry unless double jabbed that is a given, staff at venues etcetc, so players and their employers are excluded ?

Remember we are unique down here :)
Talking players vaxxed.
Even though the UK is open and infections/deaths still counting the English FA still have a fight on their hands with the EPL and EFL players....
https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league-players-vaccinated-covid-uptake-1175168
Three clubs who had had success in persuading players to get jabbed were forthcoming: Wolves said 100 per cent had been double-jabbed, Leeds 96 per cent, while Brentford said 89 per cent of their players had at least one jab.

So the Monday immediately after NSW gets to 70% of the population over 16 double dosed the new regulations come in.  Stadiums will be open to double dosed fans up to 5,000 max depending on sq m of the seating.

So you suggesting NSW should not follow the Doherty Report which was agree on national cabinet?