Gillon McLachlan threatens to send people home from transition hub as tensions simmer

GILLON McLachlan has read the riot act at the AFL transition hub, threatening to send people home if they continue to treat it like a holiday.

McLachlan’s anger boiled over on Saturday in the wake of Richmond’s latest hub breach and intense political heat in Queensland centred on the special treatment afforded to the league.

The AFL meets every couple of days with the respective heads of each club in the transition hub, but the league boss cut a frustrated figure when he fronted the meeting at the Mercure Hotel on Saturday.

McLachlan was angered by people lying too close together at the pool and sunbathing, stopping others from going for a swim given the number on restrictions and social distancing.

Eyebrows were also raised at the closeness of the media congregating in the bar area, while it also emerged that several girlfriends of players had congregated together in a room.

There are 400 people at the hub completing their two-week quarantine, which started on September 1.

Drone footage captured by Channel 9 last Thursday showed people in the transition hub frolicking by the pool and was used by critics including federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg to argue the Queensland Government was guilty of double-standards.

Nationals leader Michael McCormack also attacked the Annastacia Palaszcuk government.

The Queensland premier was accused of giving special treatment to the AFL while boarding school students can’t get home to see their parents and a grandmother of seven who’d had brain surgery was being forced to isolate in a hotel room instead of her home.

Despite last week saying the 400-person hub was being used for political point-scoring, Collingwood president Eddie McGuire was quick to remind the Pies’ travelling party of their obligations after McLachlan’s bake.