The West Live: WA nurses call for AFL crowd rethink for Optus Stadium clash between Geelong and Collingwood

WA nurses don’t want to see crowds at this weekend’s AFL derby and are calling for an urgent rethink of the 30,000 fan capacity at Optus Stadium.

In a poll of almost 2000 WA nurses, 94 per cent of respondents opposed the mass gathering deeming the event "too risky" following virus outbreaks in Victoria and NSW.

Australian Nursing Federation Secretary Mark Olson said the overwhelming vote in the union’s poll, collated nationally across Sunday and Monday, indicated it was clear frontline workers were against the eased restrictions.

Their push comes just days ahead of the Collingwood and Geelong clash on Thursday evening at Optus Stadium, as part of their three-week block of matches in the new Perth hub.

It will also be the first AFL game that will be played in front of a crowd at Optus Stadium since West Coast hosted Essendon on September 5, more than 10 months ago.

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The night game had already recorded 20,000 ticket sales by midday on Tuesday, according to an Optus Stadium spokesman.

Mr Olson said nurses were “the last line of defence when other measures fail” and 30,000 people in one place was “clearly a risk”.

Speaking to The West Live host Jenna Clarke on Tuesday, Mr Olsen said the poll included a “cross-section” of the industry, from senior nurses to juniors and graduates.

“We’ve had at least 1,000 Victorians allowed to enter the state in the week prior to the latest Victorian lockdown and the Premier cannot guarantee that all of those people were COVID-19 free,” he said.

“The Premier knows there is already a danger to WA from the Victorian outbreak because he quickly moved to postpone the level five easing of restrictions for at least two weeks and that’s presumably to see if there are any positive cases turning up here.

“We need someone to be the adult in the room and that adult is the Premier.”

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The return of football in the State will mean more than 1400 West Australians will head back to work for the first time in more than four months.

Thursday's game between the two Victorian powerhouses will mark the first major event at Optus Stadium since Queen and Adam Lambert played to a packed out venue in late February.

Australia Medical Association State president Andrew Miller said “off the bat” he didn’t think capacity at the stadium should be capped further and claimed Premier Mark McGowan, WA chief health officer Andrew Robertson and Police Commissioner Chris Dawson had “earned our trust”.

“The ANF has raised some excellent questions. I think we need to have the conversation,” he told The West Live.

“They now need to adjust, so that people are encouraged to wear masks and to separate on public transport and to use hand hygiene if it is going go ahead.

“I think that we have a pretty strong border now. But if we see anything, if we see a sniff that this Victorian spread has in fact made it into our community then I think it certainly does put the whole thing in jeopardy for this weekend.

“Then I would be very nervous about it going ahead.”

WA Health Minister Roger Cook said he still considered 30,000 people a the stadium as appropriate “with the public health risk in Western Australia at the moment” but reminded attendees to exercise physical distancing and constant hygiene.

Mr Cooks said while masks were a “good measure” to stop transmission of the disease, he urged anyone feeling unwell to stay home.