The GIANTS have this morning flown from Melbourne to Brisbane to continue their preparations for Sydney Derby XXI.

In consultation with the AFL, the decision was made late on Tuesday night for both the GIANTS and Swans to fly to Queensland as part of the AFL’s cautions approach relating to the evolving COVID situation.

Saturday’s Sydney Derby, which was fixtures to be played in Ballarat will be relocated with a venue to be determined shortly.

AFL Executive General Manager Clubs and Broadcasting Travis Auld said the league would continue to make decisions that ensure the season is able to progress during the ongoing pandemic.

“The decisions we have made this morning regarding the locations of a number of teams have been taken out of an abundance of caution. Our approach remains to take risk out of the season where the opportunity presents,” Mr Auld said. 

“We continue to work towards our priority of reuniting the families of both the GWS GIANTS and Sydney Swans and the decision to relocate both sides to Queensland provides maximum flexibility required to achieve that.

As we have throughout the course of the pandemic, we will continue to take measures to ensure that we best manage and minimise risk for those in our game and in the wider community. 

“To fans in Ballarat, we are disappointed to be moving the game from regional Victoria and thank the people of Ballarat and the local Council, the Victoria Government and Mars Stadium for their understanding. 

“On behalf of the AFL, I would like to thank the respective State Governments, each Club, players, the AFLPA, families, umpires, broadcast partners, venues and all football fans for their continued patience and understanding as we all continue to navigate this pandemic.

“We thank everyone for their continued support of the 2021 Toyota AFL Premiership Season.”