The trial game against Marrar on Thursday is off. All football and training suspended until at least May 31 due to the coronavirus outbreak.

It was hardly a shock to the players as the AFL's decision, which was handed down around 5pm that day, was inevitable.

The disappointment though was palpable. All that hard work over summer, and no game as a reward for at least ten weeks.

"I went out there and told the boys what had been verbally told to me at lunch time about the season being delayed," Dean said.

"They were disappointed as they've done a hard pre-season and now they've got to maintain that fitness while they're segregated.

"We hadn't been given the notification officially before training, and it probably worked out well because it gave me the opportunity to talk to the playing group.

"I can't say it went down well, but it's a situation no one's been in for.

"Hopefully we do get to play this year, but it's probably going to get worse before it gets any better."

The financial hit on clubs must be considered, but the social impact will be equally sorely felt.

It's a cliche, but football clubs are the heartbeat of small towns. It's something to look forward to after a long working week, where plenty of community spirit is bred.

"The biggest concern is keeping them together. It's going to hurt, footy clubs are based on the social aspect and we can't have any of those social activities at this point in time," Dean said.

"We've had to cancel our season launch this weekend and our trial games this week. Basically the door's closed, all we'll be doing is mowing the grass out the front of Crossroads Oval."

Dean is hopeful the season suspension won't hurt too significantly, but there's no doubt it will affect the bottom line of clubs.

"We've got sponsors the late start to the season is going to affect and we may have to renegotiate, but as far as our playing group goes our contracts are based on games played," he said.

"We'll have a round table discussion with the executives in the very near future. You've got to consider what our sponsors generally get during a normal year, and they're not going to be getting that this year.

"We've got a hell of a lot committed, but that was prior to this news. We have to consider that and if we're not getting a chunk of money coming in, we have to consider where we're at.

"But we're pretty well off and we spend our money wisely, and the sponsors realise that."

Dean said they have to prepare for the worst case scenario in case it occurs. No football until 2021.

"I spoke to a couple of my executives last night and they're probably of the same opinion as me that's it's not unlikely we won't have a season at all."

Brett Sommerville's first season as Demons coach just got a whole lot more complicated.

The Collingullie premiership player grew up on the family farm overlooking Crossroads Oval.

The prospect of the ground being a ghost town during winter is a bizarre prospect, to say the least.

He conceded it will be a difficult challenge for all coaches to get their players motivated in coming weeks without the carrot of a game at the end of it.

"There's plenty of apps with GPS in them now, I might get everyone to sign up to Strava," he joked.

"But the guys you know will do it, will do it. It's the ones who are there for the social aspect, they're the ones you have to watch.

"We're already providing a program where there's about 30 different workouts they can pick from, and do during the week.

"It makes it hard because we started (pre season) a little earlier than most, and we hadn't even got into our trial games. Once we get some clarity, it will help.

"If it become clear we definitely won't be doing anything until June, we'll probably put some strategies in place with some smaller groups training and doing their own thing.

"If you can coordinate these next few weeks well and you've got some good leadership in the ranks, that's where you can get an advantage.

"It may be the year that never got coached, that could be where it ends up."

After the Crows finished bottom of the Riverina League last year, Leeton-Whitton coach Daniel Muir identified fitness as a key area to improve.

The playing group has spent the past few months doing exactly that, but Muir's challenge now is to ensure they find the motivation to maintain that when playing any football this year isn't guaranteed.

"We've worked so hard to improve our base fitness," Muir said.

"We believe that would have held us in good stead and helped us move up the ladder. It was a key factor we identified we had to improve as a club and individuals, and we've done that.

"Now it's just a matter of keeping that level of fitness up to some extent during this period, which is going to be the hard part."

Muir believes it's unrealistic to expect players to start playing football immediately should games be allowed to proceed after May 31.

"Come that time does the competition say we'll start the next week? That might be a bit unfair," he said.

"The standard of football may not be the best. I personally can't see the comp saying on May 31 to start the next week. So do we say everyone plays each other once, and go from there?"

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