Coronavirus: Cheers and jeers as AFL players get kickstart

It wasn’t all smiles when footballers were given the chance to kick the dew off the grass for the first time since March.

Dustin Martin leads the Tigers on a training lap at Punt Road Oval in Melbourne. Picture: Getty Images

It wasn’t all smiles when footballers were given the chance to kick the dew off the grass for the first time since they were sentenced to home detention on the Monday after the first round way back in March.

Solitary confinement is one thing, the thought of being confined with the opposition quite ­another — and a war of words broke out between clubs before sweat had done the same as the players returned to training ahead of resumption of play on June 11.

All clubs are doing limited practice at home, but the four teams from South Australia and Western Australia will fly to the Gold Coast before the season starts. When Adelaide and Port Adelaide discovered that bypassing state rules meant sharing a hotel on the holiday strip from Monday, things quickly turned sour.

Port chairman David Koch did not hold back, saying “We don’t like you … you are not our type of people.” Coach Ken Hinkley backed him up. Adelaide chose the high ground.

The thought of spending six or seven weeks in the same establishment brought back memories of the time they couldn’t share a pub for a few hours before a brawl broke out in the car park in 2002.

Elsewhere, the mood was brighter. St Kilda coach Brett Ratten wore the smile of a man finally allowed back to do what he loved.

Giants veteran Heath Shaw bubbled with excitement after weeks condemned to his own company.

Life seemed so easy when its winter patterns followed the traditional rules; the weekend skirmish then a working week full of strategies and strapping.

Life’s simple when footy is all that matters.

Buddy Franklin lines up at a Swans session at Lakeside Oval, Sydney. Picture: Getty Images

Players returned in groups of eight and trained without contact. Even coaches had to attend to ­social distancing. In Sydney, John Longmire noted the strangeness of it all as Buddy Franklin and co went through their paces.

“It’s a step towards normality but we’re still not there because I’m up and down the middle (of the ground) and I still can’t go to either groups, so that’s a little bit different,” he said.

“There’s still an excitement level among the players to be able to get back and have a run around and a kick … even though it’s only a few of them. It’s still a really ­important start.”

At Punt Road, 2019 premiership coach Damien Hardwick said he believed the 2020 cup would be a very special one. “This will be one of the greatest premierships ever won in AFL,” Hardwick said.