AFL in Bunbury: Prospect of AFL games being staged at Hands Oval ‘very exciting’ for South West league

Excitement is building over the prospect of Bunbury’s newly redeveloped Hands Oval staging AFL games from next year, with both the City of Bunbury and South West Football League expressing delight at the concept. Reports emerged last week the State Government had all but reached an agreement with North Melbourne and the AFL which would see the Kangaroos stage two home games per season in Western Australia for the next three years. The proposed deal would see one of the games — expected to be against West Coast — played at Hands Oval, making it the first venue in WA outside the metropolitan area to host a game for premiership points. While emphasising the deal was yet to be confirmed by the State Government, Bunbury mayor Jaysen Miguel said being part of the conversations had been “very exciting”. “This project has obviously gone on for a long time and there were some cost escalations ... but the whole point of those things being implemented was ensuring it was built to a standard that does allow, should opportunities like this arise, we had everything in place to be able to accommodate that,” he said. “It’s very pleasing that the first time that’s come up, we’re straight into those conversations. We were looking forward to some preseason games, but to have the potential to get a full AFL fixture in the first year of operation is very exciting.” South West Football League president Barry Tate said the prospect of having AFL games at the home of the league so soon after the redevelopment’s completion was “unbelievable”. “We were insistent at the start (of the redevelopment) to make sure it was level four AFL standard,” he said. “The (immediate) expectations weren’t to have a fixtured match, we were looking at small steps — start with WAFL, which is on the cards, and then move into AFLW or a preseason game.” As well as representatives from the league and broadcaster Foxtel, North Melbourne officials have visited Hands Oval in recent weeks, with Mr Tate saying he was impressed by the club’s level of buy-in. “They were pretty impressed with what we presented. They’ve done a lot of research,” he said. “To bring (general manager of football) Todd Viney over, who I believe is second-in-charge in that club, with his history and his reputation, it holds a lot of water.” North Melbourne stage four games per year in Hobart as part of a partnership with the Tasmanian Government, but the deal is expected to cease when a Tasmanian team enters the AFL, which is slated to happen in 2028. With the club looking to replace lost revenue from one of their major sponsors, Mr Miguel said a partnership could pay dividends for all parties. “I’ll be signing up as a country member, they’ll get me across, that’s for sure,” he said. “North Melbourne have a lot of WA supporters, they’re very clear on that. For them, it makes sense.” Early plans for the game have revolved around a potential capacity of 15,000 — far more than the 4000 who turned out for the SWFL grand final last month — but Mr Miguel said he was confident any logistical challenges could be overcome. “We’re still working how that’ll all come together and that will be part of the package the city will work on with the State Government,” he said. “Having a commitment over a three-year term means there might be some work with the State Government to budget out some works over that period. Rather than having to do everything up front, there might be some temporary solutions and then build on that. “If it does go ahead, we want to make sure it runs very, very smoothly and well to show we can host things like this.” Mr Tate said securing the matches would only be possible by working with the State and local governments. “We can’t do this alone. For them to come on board and be part of it has been fantastic,” he said. The State Government is yet to confirm reports, with a spokesperson saying last week they were “always on the lookout for events that will drive visitation, support our local economy and showcase Western Australia”.