Consequently, as the state edges closer to a return to sporting competition it appears to be drifting further away from that competition including AFL matches.

Dig deeper and even the scenario of matches ceasing altogether is beginning to look as likely as a second wave of coronavirus casualties in countries easing restrictions despite being nowhere near dealing with the first wave. Still, good luck to you Trumpy. And Boris. And Brazil. The list goes on, as does the death toll.

Observers of the relationship between Tasmania and AFL football must now be feeling like they are watching Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston around the time the former was filming Mr and Mrs Smith with Angelina Jolie.

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Tasmanian footy fans currently starved of live AFL games might just have to get used to that diet.

Which is a shame because at a time when the AFL needs die-hard, loyal fans more than ever, they may be about to lose an entire state worth.

Listening to the ongoing rhetoric between both parties, it is difficult to see how they will be able to reconcile their differences.

On one side, the AFL - most visibly represented in the state by Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett - wants its pound of flesh. AFL clubs have been paid $8 million to play in the state this year and they are determined to honour that commitment, even if doing so in empty stadia totally defeats the purpose and exposes both parties to unnecessary dangers.

On the other side, Tasmania does suddenly appear to finally have a premier prepared to stand up for what is best for Tasmanians as opposed to what is best for the AFL.

Last week, Peter Gutwein said he wasn't "in a rush and tear to have AFL played here in Tasmania in front of empty stadiums", comments which Kennett said were "very short-sighted and very selfish".

Kennett has accused Gutwein of "putting the borders up around the island state" (although surely the end of the last ice age was more responsible for this) and implied expecting players to undergo two weeks quarantine would be unworkable.

For Kennett to call Gutwein selfish is just a bit hypocritical. A former Liberal state premier himself, he is fighting for what is best for Hawthorn, and the club would expect nothing less of him.

Kennett insisting Hawthorn would be prepared to honour their commitment by playing at an empty UTAS Stadium does sound like someone concerned about talk of potential contract refunds.

The only justification for games to be played behind closed doors in Tasmania would appear to be so that clubs can say they have fulfilled their contractual obligations. Now enough of that refund nonsense.

Of course, there are other players in this drama, although looking beyond Kennett and Gutwein is like trying to look beyond De Niro and Pacino in Heat (directed by Michael Mann in 1995 and available on Amazon Prime, check it out).

North Melbourne has also gone on the record saying it wants to play its four matches in the state if possible.

Well of course it has.

The undisputed couch surfers of the AFL, the Kangaroos have played home games at an impressive 11 grounds, hosting fixtures in Canberra, Gold Coast, Sydney, Hobart and even Perth and would happily hop anywhere they can find a comfortable bed.

North Melbourne would play on the moon if the Lunar Planetary Council offered them money to do so.

Meanwhile, Tasmania's Labor Opposition Party has called for a return to the exact one-team model which existed before they welcomed a second the last time they were in power.

And there could be no clearer evidence of how much the AFL needs loyal fans right now than when Collingwood president Eddie McGuire, when asked about possible membership refunds by Nine presenter Tony Jones, told supporters the club would look after them financially ... provided they didn't ask for financial support from the club.

Asking Collingwood for assistance would appear to be as provocative as asking China for an independent inquiry into the origins of COVID-19.

Much like everyone's favourite virus, the lifespan of this debate appears to be indeterminate.

However, one thing does seem clear.

Allowing footballers an exemption to Tasmania's quarantine rules would be about as hard to justify as a new five-year $40 million deal for top-flight football when the state is facing a predicted deficit of $1 billion.