McGowan defends WA allowing AFLW games

Western Australia premier Mark McGowan has defended the decision to allow AFLW matches to go ahead in Perth despite the state effectively remaining shut from the rest of the country.

National sport will return to the WA capital for the first time since December when Fremantle face Carlton on Saturday and West Coast host Collingwood on Sunday.

The move to allow AFLW players to fly in and out of Perth for matches had angered sections of the community, with all arrivals into WA currently required into mandatory quarantine for seven days.

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Other sporting codes, headlined by Perth Glory, have been pushing to host matches back in WA but remain unsure when they can do that.

McGowan was confident A-Leagues and NBL games would also soon return to Perth.

"We have put in place arrangements for sports over the course of the last two years that require rigorous quarantine and testing requirements, that isn't unusual and we did that for the (AFL) grand final," he told reporters.

"The arrangements we put in place in conjunction with the codes have been very safe, it's just a continuation of what we've done over the course of the last two years.

"There's a team of people who work on this with the sporting codes, and they'll work through the issues, sometimes there's specific issues.

"It's proven to be very safe over the course of the last two years, we haven't had any outbreaks out of it and we held the AFL grand final here very safely."

The Glory hosted their opening A-League men's fixture at HBF Park in November before hitting the road.

NBL powerhouse Perth Wildcats have not played at their RAC Arena base since December 17.

The Perth Scorchers won the Big Bash League title in