Coronavirus Australia: Swans Buddy Franklin is back, and so too the Tigers as AFL training resumes

It’s footy season, but not as we know it, as AFL players return .... on training wheels.

Lance Franklin handles the ball during a Sydney Swans AFL training session at Lakeside Oval on Monday. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

As Sydney superstar Lance Franklin was dashing around Lakeside Oval on Monday morning, Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley was addressing his Magpies at the Holden Centre.

A few torpedo punts away at Punt Rd, Richmond coach Damien Hardwick was urging his players to embrace the challenge of winning an extraordinary premiership.

But he did so in several spiels — the same every time — as AFL players returned to their clubs in small groups to prepare for the season resumption in 2020.

“We spoke about the opportunity this period presents,” he said.

Hardwick’s Tigers have won two of the last three premierships and his appetite to add another in 2020 is strong.

The challenging nature of the season, which has forced clubs in Western Australia and South Australia to relocate to south-east Queensland for at least the opening month, has raised questions about the fairness of the competition this year.

Matches will be played under different rules when the season resumes, most likely with a match between Richmond and Collingwood at the MCG on June 11.

The changes include extended breaks between quarters, social distancing between players on the interchange bench, additional time after goals are kicked to allow time for hygienic water distribution and a rule that precludes non-competing players from attending games.

Training looked different at clubs around the country on Monday and so too matches, which will be played without fans for the majority of the season at very best.

Scott Pendlebury of the Magpies celebrates during a Collingwood Magpies AFL training session at the Holden Centre on Monday. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

But if the health outlook in Australia remains strong, the season will be played and a premiership will be up for grabs at the end of it.

And Hardwick is absolutely determined to ensure Richmond challenges for the flag again, though this year the premiership looks likely to be decided in late October.

“I know a lot of people have jumped up in arms (about the merits of this season) but this will be one of the greatest premierships ever won in the AFL,” he said.

Not everyone will agree, but the champion coach believes the majority of people are happy to have football back.

“Every person I have spoken to at our club and outside has said, ‘Let’s get the game back’,” he said.

The AFL Fans Association said there had been a change in attitude in recent weeks about football returning, according to president Gerry Eeman.

“We all want clubs and the AFL to survive and thrive. Whilst we would love fans to be able to attend games, we understand that will not be possible until health authorities decide this is safe,” he said.

“Our polling indicates that 75 percent of fans now want to see the footy return in any form, which is a change from two months ago when fans were divided down the middle on whether the season should be going ahead.

“The majority of fans now appear to be looking forward to a distraction from what has been a very trying period.”

Richmond had almost a full list of healthy players return to training, with Bachar Houli the only exception, though the next few weeks will be challenging.

While players have been able to retain their fitness through the shutdown, groins and calf muscles will be put to the test before the resumption as the dynamic workload increases over the next month.

Hardwick believes the Tigers have learned some lessons in isolation. He conducted a press conference on Monday morning via a website application and believes meetings with players can also be held in a similar way in coming weeks in order to minimise risks associated with the transmission of COVID-19.