AFL Canberra shifts grand final for crowd hike

Clubs have been told league officials will allocate 265 tickets to each competing club per match on grand final day at Gungahlin Enclosed Oval - originally scheduled for Phillip Oval - on Saturday, with no walk-ups allowed.

Thirty-five players and officials can be listed on team sheets for entry, while ticket holders will only gain entry for the match they have secured a ticket for. Club officials understand passes operate on an "in and out" basis throughout the day.

It leaves officials with plenty of work to do, as the Queanbeyan Tigers prepare to face the Eastlake Demons and Belconnen Magpies in men's and women's deciders respectively.

The Ainslie Tricolours will feature in the Rising Stars and reserve grade grand finals against Marist and Belconnen respectively.

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"It is what it is, we need to be playing, we're glad we're playing. The reality is it's COVID, we've just got to do it. Everyone accepts it's COVID and that's life," Tigers men's coach and club general manager Adrian Pavese said.

Grand final day marks a mammoth day for the Tigers with the club's first grade men's and women's sides playing in grand finals on the same day for the first time.

Queanbeyan featured in senior grand finals in 2014 and 2015, but the club's women's side was in division two at the time. It's men's side in 2014's AFL Canberra competition was effectively a reserve grade team given the Tigers still had a NEAFL outfit.

"It's the first time two bona fide first grade sides are in the grand final together so it's pretty exciting," Pavese said.

"It's going to be interesting. Hopefully we can get the job done and drive the girls. It's going to be tough footy.

"We've got heaps of injuries but we're pretty happy with our depth, we think we can cover them. We lost another two last week, so we've lost seven key players in the past three weeks.

"To make a grand final has been a huge effort. They're not just bumps and bruises either, a couple of them are out for next year as well. Devastating. But what can you do?"

It might not mend torn ligaments or broken bones, but a grand final win would go a long way towards easing the pain in Tigerland.

AFL CANBERRA GRAND FINAL DAY

Saturday: Rising Stars - Ainslie Tricolours v Marist College at 9.30am; Second grade - Ainslie Tricolours v Belconnen Magpies at 12.15pm; First grade men's - Eastlake Demons v Queanbeyan Tigers at 3pm; Queanbeyan Tigers v Belconnen Magpies at 6.30pm.