Adelaide Crows will relocate to either Victoria or the Gold Coast ahead of the AFL's looming resumption after the South Australian Government confirmed both of the state's clubs would not be excluded from strict 14-day quarantine rules.
The Crows and local rivals Port Adelaide had hoped to be able to fly in and out of Adelaide for games once the season restarted but the Government on Wednesday confirmed that would not be possible, forcing both teams to make other plans.
And it appears the Crows will set up base somewhere in Victoria, probably for the best part of two months.
"The Adelaide Crows will be preparing to play in hubs outside of Adelaide pre the games starting and then maybe up to the first five weeks of the footy season starting, so they can get some certainty in the programming for the AFL," Crows board member Mark Ricciuto told Triple M on Thursday morning.
"The fixture's a bloody hard thing to get sorted at the best of times, especially when you don't know what's going on with all the restrictions from the premiers and the health departments of individual states."
With 25 players on their list originally from Melbourne, the city may prove to be the most attractive destination for the Crows' temporary relocation.
"Well it is, there's only a couple of options isn't there: Melbourne and Gold Coast," Ricciuto said. So it's a toss of the coin on that one, work out what's best and get it happening. We'll do what we need to do to get the footy going, we understand the importance financially and what it means for the competition and the clubs. We'll just roll with the punches here and get on with it."
Port Adelaide are yet to confirm their plans following the South Australian Government's decision while West Australian clubs West Coast Eagles and Fremantle will also have to make similar arrangements after Premier Mark McGowan confirmed he would not be granting either team a special exemption either.
It is believed both the Eagles and Dockers will set up camp on the Gold Coast once the AFL reveals its season plans, a decision which is expected to come before the end of the week.
The Crows were earlier this week sanctioned by the AFL for a COVID-19 breach where a group of 16 players were caught training together at a golf course in the Barossa Valley. Assistant coach Ben Hart has been suspended for six weeks by the AFL while the 16 players involved were all handed a suspended one-game ban.