NEW SOUTH Wales looms as the likely destination for the next quarantine hub as the AFL prepares to change more fixtures due to tough new border restrictions.
Three matches scheduled for this weekend's round five were flipped on Monday after the Queensland government introduced stricter guidelines centred on the outbreak of COVID-19 in Victoria.
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With Gold Coast and Brisbane having played host to Fremantle, West Coast, Adelaide and Port Adelaide in the south-east Queensland hub in recent weeks, both the Suns and Lions are bracing for their own time on the road.
The Suns travel to play Geelong on Saturday at GMHBA Stadium and the new Queensland rules state they would need to quarantine for 14 days upon their arrival home.
To circumvent that prospect, the Suns are preparing for the need to move to NSW for at least a fortnight before returning home to Queensland.
As a result, it leaves their round six clash scheduled for the MCG against Hawthorn as one of several matches up in the air.
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As of Monday night, the AFL was still working towards rescheduling several matches for rounds six and seven.
Like Gold Coast, Brisbane is also preparing its suitcases for a stint away from home.
Should the Lions' round six date with Collingwood at the MCG go ahead, as they are anticipating, they would then likely follow the Suns in spending a fortnight in Sydney.
An official at one Sydney-based club coined the prospect as a 'halfway hub' given the Lions and Suns would be based in their backyard, while Victorian-based teams could come in and out to play in the Harbour City given the NSW borders aren't as strict as Queensland.
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Melbourne is due to fly to Queensland and play hub club Fremantle at Metricon Stadium in round six, with that match also in doubt due to the new guidelines.
From round seven, the Eagles and Dockers will have returned home to begin their 14-day arrival quarantine by playing a round seven Western Derby in front of 60,000 people.
Geelong and Collingwood will join them in Perth from that weekend, with the Cats and Pies to play each other before quarantine laws allow them to tackle the WA clubs in rounds eight and nine.
More Victorian-based clubs are likely to follow the Cats and Pies in WA.
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The AFL will also consider staging a mini-hub in South Australia due to the flexibility of borders re-opening from July 20.
The Northern Territory was another location raised as a hub possibility on a phone hook-up with AFL clubs and League officials on Monday morning, with borders to open in the NT from July 17.
AFL fixture boss Travis Auld said on Monday night all options were on the table across various states and territories.
Auld said conversations remained ongoing with the Queensland government over the potential that Victorian-based teams could still head to Queensland and play each other while serving their 14-day quarantine before facing the Suns and Lions.
It would be a similar model to the one the Cats and Pies are facing in WA.
"That four-to-five-week period is pretty manageable," Auld told 3AW at the ideal length of time for clubs on the road.
"It may not be, under these circumstances, four or five weeks in the same place.
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"If you look at Geelong and Collingwood for example, they'll go to WA for three weeks, they may come back via one of the other states now so they may not come back into Victoria straight away, they may come back via New South Wales or Queensland."
With dominos set to fall on a number of fixtures, AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said all 18 clubs were prepared to be flexible given the ongoing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic.
