2020 NEAFL season

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]

Aspley ultimately departed at the end of the 2021 VFL season.^[15]