Competition operations manager James Stokes said the plan was to have A grade start on October 3, with all other grades to follow a week later.
“We’re trying to stay positive about the whole situation and be as organised as possible,” Stokes said.
“Unfortunately, if the current restrictions do stay in place we will have to adjust our target dates.
“One of the benefits of those though is we would still be able to have our junior competitions start — although that could still depend on any border closures in place.”
Stokes said the decision to call off several football competitions across the district did not have a major impact on his team’s planning.
“At one point there was a possibility footy could have run until October 24 after the agreement between AFL Victoria and Cricket Victoria,” he said.
“But the longer it went on the less likely it looked as if footy would get off the ground, which is a real shame for locals who do love their sport.”
With hundreds missing out on their winter dose of sport, Stokes admitted it was possible there could be a significant rise in the number of participants.
“That has been mentioned at some of our meetings in the past few weeks,” he said.
“But it’s also possible that some footy teams go back to training earlier than normal and guys will then put all their focus back into that.
“There is a potential of a spike in the first half of the season, then they could drop away after Christmas.”
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