The AFL and NRL are both reportedly on edge as they carefully follow the path of a tropical low that could develop into a category one cyclone over North Queensland.
Opening Round was thrown into chaos in March 2025 when Severe Tropical Cyclone Alfred became the first of its kind to hit Brisbane in more than 50 years, prompting the AFL to take the cautious approach and postpone games in both Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
Brisbane and Geelong would play their Opening Round match during their Round 3 byes, whilst Gold Coast and Essendon had to play a midweek make-up game after the final round of the season that impacted Gold Coast's finals preparation.
The outlook for south-east Queensland did not look nearly as grim on Thursday, and whilst there was no certainty that Brisbane and the Gold Coast would go through the weekend unscathed, it is the northern half of the Queensland coast that is set to be hit.
Ben Domensino from Weatherzone said that, as of Thursday morning, there was a "moderate" chance of the low developing into a cyclone as it makes landfall in or near Townsville.
"The impacts for northern Queensland should include heavy rain, localised flash flooding and blustery winds as it approaches and crosses the coast," Weatherzone's Domensino said.
"Following landfall, the low pressure system is expected to move inland, allowing rain and storms to spread over northern Queensland into the weekend and possible early next week."
Domensino added that south-east Queensland is also at risk of localised heavy rain.
"Some computer models suggest that a second low-pressure system could track towards the south near the Queensland coast later this week."
"If this does happen, rain and storms could also spread over central and southeast Queensland from Friday into the weekend, with the potential for moderate to heavy falls."
With the distance between Brisbane and Cairns almost being identical to that of Brisbane and Melbourne, there's only a very low likelihood of cyclone-like activity impacting the southeast.
Furthermore, Bureau of Meteorology forecasts on Thursday afternoon were expecting only medium rainfall in the Brisbane-Gold Coast region on Friday and Saturday nights, when the Suns and Lions host Geelong and Western Bulldogs respectively.
Sunday's 3pm local time NRL game between Dolphins and South Sydney Rabbitohs at Suncorp Stadium, on the other hand, could be in for a soaking, in addition to the fourth day of Queensland's Sheffield Shield game against Western Australia at Allan Border Field in suburban Brisbane.