Port Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas supports quarantine hubs idea if health authorities give it green light, expects season to
Patrick Dangerfield and Taylor Walker raised concerns about having the AFL having quarantine hubs. But Port Adelaide CEO Keith Thomas said if they went ahead, his club would embrace it.
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Port Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas “fully expects” the AFL to resume later this year and supports the idea of having quarantine hubs as long as health authorities agree they are viable.
Reports suggest the league is considering restarting the competition with groups of six teams based in states with lower rates of coronavirus, such as SA, WA and Tasmania, so it can chip away at the 144 remaining games on the fixture.
AFL officials shutdown the competition on March 22 until at least May 31, in line with border closures, but remained committed to completing the season.
Geelong star Patrick Dangerfield and Crows veteran Taylor Walker raised concerns last week about the hubs concept but Thomas believed it had merit.
“If it (hubs) were able to be done and the health authorities said that ‘yep, it’s a viable option’, we would embrace it because it is absolutely about playing footy again and we’re in that camp,” Thomas said in a video interview on Port’s website.
“I’ve been really impressed and supportive of the AFL’s commitment to playing the season.
“I think it’s really important that we continue to be very determined about playing, whether that’s in a hub structure or later in the year and playing through until December, all of those options are open to the AFL at the moment.
“We need to be a little bit flexible, quite agile, we need to listen to the health authorities and take their advice on when is the right time to recommence.”
Thomas said Port’s players were “in a fantastic headspace” despite the season being put on hold and needing to self-isolate for 14 days after the Round 1 win against Gold Coast last month.
Most of the club’s coaches have been stood down without pay, but Thomas said they were in constant communication with the team and officials to ensure everyone stayed “connected”.
“Our responsibility is that when that opportunity presents itself, we’re ready to go and that’s where our playing group and coaching group are focused,” he said.
“I know that they’re doing a really good job ensuring that if it’s three weeks or three months away, we’ll be ready.”
Port had planned to mark its 150th anniversary with several key events, including wearing its prison-bar guernsey against the Crows on March 28 and original blue-and-white jumper versus Carlton on May 2, and was hoping they would draw a huge crowds, as well as past players, administrators and volunteers to Adelaide Oval.
Thomas said plans to have the Port community get together in a similar way were still on the agenda.
“I’m sure that will occur if we’re playing at the back end of this season, which we fully expect to be,” he said.
But he said the club’s immediate priorities were to “survive and then thrive”, and win games.
Originally published as Port Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas supports quarantine hubs idea if health authorities give it green light, expects season to