Assuming no further government restrictions are imposed on sporting events, the club CEOs - who meet in Sydney on Monday to thrash out the fine details of their strategic planning - are united in their commitment to soldiering on.
They will initially have to do so in the absence of Wellington Phoenix and Melbourne Victory, who clashed at Sky Stadium on Sunday evening, but will be in self-isolation for two weeks under new government travel edicts.
Any new arrivals in Australia after midnight on Sunday must adopt the guidelines, meaning Phoenix’s next two games on Australian soil against Sydney FC (on Wednesday) and Newcastle Jets (Sunday) are off.
The scenario is the same for Victory who must scrub Sunday’s visit of Brisbane Roar and their trip to Perth Glory the following weekend.
Club chiefs, who now run the competition after the separation of powers from FFA, still operate under the ruling body’s governance structures, but have the final say on operational matters.
The original plan was to bring Wellington Phoenix into Australia in the early hours of Monday morning, and for them to remain within its borders for the remainder of the campaign.
That contingency has been derailed but, with New Zealand imposing its own two-week isolation protocols, keeping the Nix in Australia for the duration of the season remains a live option.
“The clubs will make these decisions now, in conjunction with the FFA (and the PFA),” said a high-ranking club official.
“There are ‘Whole of Game’ decisions regarding what happens with football (the national teams) and then there’s the A-League and W-League.
“The first step is getting Wellington to base themselves here for the rest of the season, even if they have to sit out the two weeks.”
One option already floated is enacting Wayne Bennett's brainchild of the NRL moving all teams to one location and playing the rest of the season in a World Cup format.
“Absolutely that’s highly feasible, and looks more likely than not,” added the club official.
“(A-League chief) Greg O’Rourke (part of coronavirus committee set up by the FFA and including PFA and state federation members) is looking at this as part of several scenarios.
“We’ve come 21 rounds and with five to go it would be a bit silly to throw it away now when there’s an opportunity to finish the season off, so long as it can be done in a safe and appropriate manner.
“There’s no benefit in shutting up shop - and you never know in four weeks time we may get the go-ahead (from government) to open the gates again and we can return to normal for the finals.
“Of course, there’s also the chance we could reach the point when certain things are beyond our control and if we’re told by the government not to play at all we’d obviously adhere to that.
“But the government are equally also measured in not wanting to over-react to certain things.
“As long as everybody is doing things safely and we’re not putting players at risk then things will continue as best we can.
“Obviously it would be disappointing to get to the finals series and have to play that behind closed doors, but look at the NBL they are playing their finals behind closed doors.”
The A-League has been working feverishly on a way to complete the season under pressure from Fox Sports, who don’t favour a cancellation or suspension.
