Premier Mark McGowan backs AFL Grand Final in Perth if MCG crowd is ruled out

Premier Mark McGowan has warned the AFL it would be a "mistake" if this year’s Grand Final was relocated to Sydney or Adelaide — instead of WA.

The Premier again stressed yesterday, that it was the view of the WA Government that should the AFL grand final not be able to held at the MCG because of coronavirus crowd restrictions in Victoria, then WA was the logical alternative.

“If the MCG can’t hold the grand final, the AFL should hold it at the next biggest stadium – that’s clearly our stadium, and we are clearly a football state and it would be appropriate for it to come to Western Australia,” Mr McGowan said.

“If it can’t be held in Victoria, clearly it should just come to Perth.

“If the AFL was to send it to Brisbane or Sydney, clearly that would be a mistake.

“Adelaide Oval is nowhere near as big as Optus Stadium.

“Clearly, Western Australia is the best location.”

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With Perth having secured and AFL hub, a second wave of COVID-19 in Victoria has opened up discussions about an alternative to the MCG for the big dance.

But although Mr McGowan wants WA to stage the AFL grand final, should Victoria be ruled out, he was not willing to entertain the idea of the WA Government putting up money to stage the event.

“At this point in time, I don’t want to get into some bidding war with other states about the grand final,” he said.

“I hate this actually. I hate this bidding for something that should actually just come here because we are the best location.

“Sometimes you have discussions. There might be other things you do around it. But I don’t think we should start speculating about a bidding war to the AFL at this point of time.”