AFL South Coast regional manager Matt Graham has given the first hints that the 2020 competition could be up and running by mid-July.
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On Wednesday, NSW Rugby League penciled in a tentative return date of July 18 for grassroots footy, Graham said "we haven't got to that point yet", but a similar return date for AFL South Coast remained a possibility.
"It will ultimately be decided by health authority and government regulations," Graham said.
"If rugby league was to return by then, I suspect we would be pretty similar based on conversations happening with other codes.
"[But] there's no real change from our perspective as yet.
"The first priority from an AFL point of view is to get the elite game back up and running.
"Probably within the next week or so, there will be some announcements around that."
The AFL last month postponed all football for the foreseen future due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
When play does return, Graham said AFL South Coast would need to work their schedule around other sporting codes.
"We want to be playing and we will be doing everything we can [to accommodate] once we're allowed to to get games up and running," he said.
"We'll look at flexible fixturing, whether that's a couple of games a week, playing at alternate venues.
"We're certainly looking to be as flexible as we can.
"We've got a lot of codes trying to get some alignments on returning.
"We'll also work closely with cricket and other summer codes to try and see what opportunities there may be."
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Joshua Bartlett
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
