The season was scheduled to begin on 4 April and conclude with the grand final on 21 September. As a result of a new naming rights agreement with Toyota, the season was to be known as the 2020 Toyota NEAFL Premiership Season.[3]
Additionally, the NEAFL's top-six structure for the finals series was set to be changed to a top-five structure for the 2020 season.[4]
Clubs
Nine clubs were set to compete in the 2020 season, with NT Thunder having disbanded at the end of 2019.[5]
Practice matches were held in late February and early March.[6][7] Like the 2020 AFL season, the season was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which was formally declared a pandemic on 11 March 2020, three weeks prior to the scheduled start of the premiership season.[8] On 16 March, it was announced that the NEAFL and all other state leagues would be postponed until 31 May.[9]
On 16 June, after discussion on how to proceed with a condensed season in a 'non-traditional format', the AFL made the decision to cancel the season.[10]
In August 2020, it was announced that the NEAFL would amalgamate into the VFL, with all of its clubs afforded the opportunity to join the VFL, over a transitional period in 2021 and 2022.[11] Six NEAFL teams opted to join: the Sydney reserves, Greater Western Sydney reserves, Brisbane reserves and Gold Coast reserves, and two stand-alone senior clubs from Queensland: Gold Coast based Southport Sharks and Brisbane based Aspley Hornets. Sydney based Sydney University was offered a licence before ultimately declining, due to the cost to compete being too high.[12] The Canberra Demons[13] and Brisbane based Redland both declined to join the merged competition before licenses were offered.[14]
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