Hawthorn chief executive Justin Reeves doubts the AFL will pursue the bizarre idea of using quarantine hubs as a means of restarting the stalled premiership season.
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Creating hubs, where teams are separated into three groups and isolated in different states to limit their exposure to coronavirus, is one of up to 15 scenarios the league is pondering as it looks to plot a way out of the disastrous COVID-19 shutdown.
The plan has sparked furious debate in the media and in club land, where it has been embraced largely by senior coaches, while AFL Players' Association president Patrick Dangerfield has voiced his concerns.
GWS chairman Tony Shepherd is also wary of the risks, labelling hubs as potential cruise ships in the making.
"I can't get my head around how that would possibly work," Reeves told Triple M on Saturday.
"I think that (hub idea) probably got cut through because of the bizarreness of it.
"But some around the world are doing it so you have to do your due diligence and see if it's a possibility.
"I think the one thing that our industry has done really well from the start, and will do until we're through this, is put the interests, health and wellbeing of our people first.
"I can't imagine this happening while the rest of the community are in lockdown or the like."
The AFL hopes to have a return-to-play plan ready to put to clubs by the end of April after shutting the season down until May 31 when the virus outlook worsened during round one.
The NRL has announced plans to restart its season on May 28, but a July return for the AFL season is considered more likely.
The league has the flexibility to keep playing into December after securing a pay deal with the players and will also consider compressing the season to ensure a premier is crowned this year.
Fremantle football boss Peter Bell says his club is committed to helping the AFL to achieve that goal, as long as the Dockers and other interstate clubs are not disadvantaged by travel arrangements.
"What we want to try to avoid as much as possible is going back and forth," Bell told ABC Grandstand.
"Where at all possible, we would be open to compressing games.
"But I don't think it would be realistic to ask Fremantle or West Coast, for example, to fly over to Melbourne when we resume, come back and play a game four days later, including the return flight as well."
Australian Associated Press
