By Luke Voogt
Geelong Cats will play rounds 14 to 17 in Queensland with champion player Gary Ablett a possibility to fly to the state next week.
The AFL has scheduled a flight for some players, officials and media partners to its transition hub at Gold Coast’s Mercure Hotel on September 1.
This could include Ablett, who left the Cat’s previous hub in Perth during July to join his family as his son Levi fights a rare and degenerative disease.
But reports emerged today that Ablett was ready to play and that Geelong Cats were working to potentially get him to Queensland as early as next week.
If Ablett were to leave next week and commence a 14-day quarantine, he could potentially play in the Cats last three games.
Ablett last October announced that 2020 would be his last year.
After playing the Crows at Adelaide Oval next Sunday, Geelong Cats will take on Western Bulldogs at Metricon Stadium in the Gold Coast on August 28, before a bye.
The club will then play their next two matches against Essendon at The Gabba and Richmond at Metricon.
The Cats will face Sydney in the final 18th round at a place and time yet to be announced by the AFL.
AFL general manager of clubs and broadcasting Travis Auld said the last block of games for the season was the most challenging yet.
“Every aspect of the fixture has a flow on impact at this point which makes achieving the right balance of factors and constraints especially difficult.”
Auld said it made sense to compress the last part of the season prior to returning to a more traditional round 18 and finals series.
“Scheduling a second compression phase allows us to again play more matches in a shorter period of time as the majority of clubs continue to live in a hub environment.”
