Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew says ceding home advantage for Sunday's AFL match against Essendon was the best option for his players' mental wellbeing.
After failing to get clarity on just what level of freedom players would have following the match if it was played at Metricon Stadium, the Suns will instead host the the Bombers at Geelong's GMHBA Stadium.
Dew says a stable build-up was a key factor in his team's victory over Carlton last weekend and avoiding unnecessary disruption for Sunday and the final-round meeting with Sydney was the best path to take.
"In the end it was just getting too late to give them certainty around what the conditions would look like, both from a playing performance sense, but also from a human sense," Dew said.
"The overwhelming thing from the people down here, the players and staff, was around the certainty and knowing what they were in for.
"In the end that's the decision that we've made."
The Suns fled southeast Queensland ahead of a snap seven-day lockdown which forced their home match against Melbourne to be relocated to Marvel Stadium.
Since then they have remained in Victoria, which has since entered a lockdown of its own while Queensland's restrictions have eased.
"Across the journey in the last 18 months with COVID I think a lot of teams have given up home games," Dew said.
"We were lucky enough to play more than our fair share last year in Queensland.
"We've actually been able to outrun lockdowns a little bit for the whole year ... obviously at this stage we're in Melbourne so it would seem best to stay.
"We wanted to make sure that - our goal 10 weeks ago was to have a strong finish to the season - and we know we've got two more to go and the players are hell bent on making them count."
