Traditionally, the HDFNL rotates venues each year for the first two weekends of the finals and Huntly hosts the preliminary final and grand final.

However, AFL Victoria's COVID-19-related regulations around crowd sizes and movement of spectators has forced the league to change its plans for 2021.

"Under the guidelines our home and away games are a tier one which means our crowds are capped at 1000 people,'' HDFNL chairman Peter Cole said.

"Tier two is between 1000 and 5000 people which covers our finals series.

"You have to break the crowd up into self-contained areas of 60-70m squared and have one person per two square metres.

"You have to have toilets, drink facilities and BBQ facilities inside each of those areas.

"Once you're in that area you can't leave. We need to have a COVID officer in each area counting all the people and there'll be no cars allowed inside the ground.

"With all the protocols that need to be put in place we thought it would be easiest to set up one ground and leave it that way for the four weeks.

"The cost of setting up a different ground for each final would be enormous.

"It makes sense to do it this way. Huntly is a great venue that has served us well for grand finals."

Cole said the HDFNL's nine clubs supported the final plan.

"The clubs voted unanimously in favour of the decision and they've been fantastic in their support.

"We'll put together a roster for volunteers from each club over the finals series.

"The clubs who were scheduled to host finals matches this year will get the chance to host finals next year.

"We'll divide the dividends from the finals between the nine clubs."

Cole said it was likely the league would introduce a pre-book ticket system for grand final day.

"Up until the grand final we probably won't fill 5000 people, but the grand final we probably will,'' he said.

"In 2019 we had about 5500 people at the grand final.

"Volunteers are not counted in the cap of 5000 and we'll probably have a couple of hundred volunteers as well."

Cole said the league had learned from the frustrations surrounding the COVID-19 ruined 2020 season and has put plans in place for any future lockdowns or stoppages to play.

"It's a big thing for our league, but our main purpose is to give the clubs clarity before the season starts,'' Cole said.

"We have contingency plans in place for more lockdowns if they occur.

"The clubs know that if we finish round three and then get locked down for two rounds then we still resume at round four.

"Our goal is to get to round nine as a minimum so that every club plays each other once.

"If we get locked down for a week or two in the finals then the highest-ranked team goes through.

"All the clubs are aware of the rules prior to the season starting."

Meanwhile, Cole said several HDFNL clubs were in need of more trainers for the upcoming season.

Anyone who is interested in earning some extra cash as a trainer can contact the AFLCV hub in Mundy Street.

Read more: Catch up on all the latest local footy news

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: