Ticket sales for the highly anticipated western derby have temporarily been suspended following the Government’s review of the Phase 5 roadmap.

Speaking yesterday, Premier Mark McGowan made brief mention of a review of the impending relaxed restrictions as a result of Victoria’s coronavirus crisis.

Phase 5 is set to allow 60,000 fans to attend live sporting matches from Saturday July 18, with the derby to take place the following day.

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However, should the roadmap be delayed, only 30,000 fans will be allowed to attend the sole derby for the year.

“Following a recommendation from the WA Government, all ticket sales for the Derby have been temporarily suspended pending the Government’s review of the easing to phase 5 restrictions,” the West Coast Eagles tweeted on Tuesday morning.

“We will have more information available soon here & on our website.”

Mark McGowan yesterday confirmed the Victorian outbreak ““may have consequences for the AFL” and would be a major consideration when reviewing the planned move to Phase Five restrictions on July 18.

“But frankly, health comes first,” the Premier said.

“AFL comes a distant second and we'll do the right thing by the people of the State.

“As to the crowd of the (western derby), that's something we will continue to review over the coming week as to whether or not we would allow a full crowd or stay with the existing Phase Four arrangements, which would be a half (capacity) crowd,” Mr McGowan said.

Australian Medical Association (WA) president Andrew Miller said the prospect of 60,000 fans packing Optus made him feel “vaguely nauseous”.

He said that with the vast majority of coronavirus restrictions now removed, a single person with coronavirus let loose in WA could quickly escalate into a full-blown outbreak that would rival Victoria.

Dr Miller also called for the Premier to “carefully review” allowing Victorian AFL teams to hub in WA, although Mr McGowan said he remained comfortable with the arrangement and that there were no plans to ban Melbourne teams from travelling to the State.

He also remained supportive of moving the AFL grand final to Perth, with the MCG looking increasingly unlikely to be in a position to host the October fixture.

“But (the AFL would) need to meet the safety requirements as directed by the Chief Health Officer,” Mr McGowan said.

It comes after Fremantle CEO Simon Garlick told The West Australian yesterday he remained optimistic of a full house despite the scare.

“We understand and are more than happy to work with the Government’s recommendation to temporally suspend ticket sales for the RAC Derby, while remaining optimistic that the game will go ahead with a capacity crowd,” Garlick said.

“Premier Mark McGowan had previously indicated that this was subject to ongoing review in the lead-up to the planned introduction of Phase 5 restrictions on 18 July.

“The last instance of community transmission in WA was 87 days ago and, in announcing the review of the timing of Phase 5 restrictions, the Premier noted that there was no evidence of community spread in WA, which provides us with a level of optimism about the likely outcome of the review.”

The match is a Fremantle home game and would be a huge financial blow should the crowd capacity be halved.