Players and staff from the AFL's two South Australian-based clubs may be given an exemption to the state's 14-day cross-border self isolation rules, in order to ensure the AFL season gets up and running.
SA Premier Steven Marshall said the state would be "unlikely to welcome" players from other states into South Australia because of the current restrictions, meaning the two Adelaide-based teams may need to play 'home' games interstate if a 'hub' plan doesn't eventuate.
He said if hub' weren't established, the most reasonable course of action may be to exempt players from the Crows and Power from having to self-isolate for 14 days after leaving the state, as is the case for people coming into South Australia currently.
That would mean those teams would be adhering to a "modified fly-in, fly-out" model, whereby they live and train in Adelaide, but play elsewhere.
"[If the] current infection rates continued I think we would be very unlikely to welcome players from interstate into Adelaide," Marshall told The Advertiser on Thursday, referring to the state's current biosecurity measures.
"Obviously we are trying to predict what the infection level around Australia will be in four, six and eight weeks time, and that is extremely difficult to do.
"And therefore it makes it much more likely that in the early rounds of the season that our games from South Australia would be away games. Or we would be operating out of a hub.
"My personal preference is for us to be essentially operating in a modified fly-in, fly-out model with South Australian teams based here and flying out for games."
A hub model hasn't been ruled out by the AFL, but given South Australia hasn't recorded a new case of the virus for two weeks, Marshall isn't keen to see football played in his state in the near future.
And with Western Australia's premier Mark McGowan also saying his government wouldn't be making any changes simply to "meet the needs of football", it means four of the league's interstate clubs could be potentially relocated in order to kickstart the season.
According to Crows CEO Andrew Fagan, discussions are ongoing between the AFL and the South Australian government, and do not involve the clubs.