Fresh off winning a second TSL premiership medal last season, the 21-year-old secured a dream contract with Carlton-affiliated VFL club Northern Blues.

But a dramatic turn of events sparked by the coronavirus outbreak led to the Blues ceasing operations in March, leaving Richter-Salter without a club for 2020.

The former St Helens District High student was grateful for the chance to return to UTAS Stadium, but remains determined to test himself at the next level.

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"The plan is definitely to head back over when everything settles down," Richter-Salter said.

"I was pretty deflated to be honest. After making the move over there this year and you get to a big club like Carlton with all the history and even though its not AFL, it's VFL, it's still a dream in the making kind of thing.

"But I'm excited to be back here with all my old mates at a club that's been so good to me and now that there's no footy over there again, I know that I couldn't be playing anywhere better than North Launny this year.

"I'm just really focused on playing some real good footy here with some good mates and hopefully we can do what the club hasn't done before and go four in a row."

After battling niggling injuries in Melbourne and spending two weeks in isolation upon return to Tasmania, Richter-Salter is working his way back to full fitness.

He is unlikely to play before the round three bye, but was happy just being back on the turf of UTAS Stadium after a fortnight's confinement.

"It was a lot harder than I thought it would be," he said.

"I was down at Mum's on the East Coast and Mum doesn't even have wi-fi so I was reading a lot of books and doing a lot of word searches and crosswords, so it's nice to be back at [UTAS] Stadium, you won't get a better deck than this.

"It's exciting looking at the talent we've got because this is probably the best group talent-wise I've seen at the club. If we can work just as hard as every other group we've had ... the talent's there, we've just got to make the most of it."

Arion Richter-Salter's 2020 hasn't panned out as planned, but there's still plenty to be positive about.

Pursuing avenues to the VFL after a second TSL flag last season, the 21-year-old met with Casey Demons following a good word from ex-North Launceston teammate Jay Lockhart.

When Casey's geographical location proved incompatible with Richter-Salter's university arrangements, he reached out to other clubs and made a connection with the Northern Blues.

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After impressing former Collingwood ruck and then-Blues coach Josh Fraser at training, Richter-Salter won a contract for 2020 only to watch the coronavirus pandemic put an end to his new club's 138-year history.

He will spend the rest of the year at North Launceston before seeking another pathway towards VFL football.

"My goal is still to play higher footy than I have been, I still want to play at VFL level because once you're there you never know what could happen if they see something in you," he said.

"Jay's got to be an inspiration to any [footballer] - he was a gun when he was here but it was more the effort that he put in outside the footy field as well.

"He believed in himself, he did all the work and he was prepared for VFL footy before he got over there.

"He's the perfect example that if you go over there and make the most of it, anything can happen, he looks part of it at AFL level now."

Richter-Salter's time in Preston was far from wasted.

In addition to Fraser, he spent time learning from three-time Brisbane premiership star Luke Power and shared a list with ex-AFL players including Jordan Cunico, Kieran Collins, Lukas Webb and Sydney's 2012 premiership defender Alex Johnson.

"Everything was obviously a lot quicker so I feel like that's helped my game a lot," Richter-Salter said.

"Unfortunately things ended over there before we actually started playing any games - we were a couple of praccys in and I was a bit injured for a while so I missed a little bit of the pre-season.

"But just being around that environment and seeing how the AFL boys train and stuff like that, you pick up on a few little tips just from watching the edits and the way they move.

"I think it's a lot similar to State League footy in Tassie to be honest, it's just a lot quicker.

"All the game plans and everything is very similar it's just a step up in pace."

The next item on Richter-Salter's agenda is to add another facet to his game.

"When I was in Melbourne I started to focus on myself as more of a dynamic player that I could play a bit of midfield and down back as well," Richter-Salter said.

"So hopefully this year, talking to [coach Taylor Whitford] I can get that exposure to some midfield time and add that bit of craft to my game because that's where I hopefully see myself playing eventually.

"But I'm still pretty confident that if I have to play some footy down back that it's still in the memory bank pretty well."