IF 2020 was a season like no other, then the past seven days has been a week like no other for Brisbane.

Last Thursday morning the Lions left Brisbane Airport for what they thought was a two-night stay in Geelong to take on the Cats in a Friday night blockbuster.

As we now know, those two nights will turn into at least 16, and potentially more.

Since the latest COVID-19 outbreak gripped Brisbane, ultimately leading to the city being locked down, the Lions' season has been thrown into temporary chaos.

Starting with Victorian government clearance to play Geelong in the hours before the match, it's been a tumultuous seven days.

On three successive days – Saturday, Sunday and Monday - Brisbane thought it was returning home, only to be told otherwise.

They've quarantined in both Geelong and Melbourne, trained at multiple venues and at the time of writing had not locked in accommodation beyond Saturday amidst the Easter long weekend.

In the usual course of events, a heartbreaking one-point loss with a controversial late umpiring decision would be the talk of the team for a few days, but not this week.

"I haven't had as many calls as I have in the last few days since my days as a bank manager when people would annoy me for loans," football manager Danny Daly joked.

But for the Lions it's been no laughing matter.

After isolating in their Geelong accommodation post-match, they awoke on Saturday to have every player and staff member COVID tested before getting on a bus bound for Melbourne.

Once there, it was back into a hotel lockdown, unable to move until a clean sheet of negative results were returned – which they did by 8pm.

On Sunday morning they were packed, on the bus and headed for the Melbourne Airport to return home.

"We were in the bus at 11am ready to go, then Swanny's (CEO Greg Swan) ringing me and running down the street as we were about to leave saying 'we can't go anywhere, turn the bus around'," Daly said.

"We were told to just go into the hotel and stay in the dining area until we could sort something with our accommodation."

With locally-acquired COVID cases surfacing for three straight days in the Greater Brisbane area, the AFL was getting proactive.

Brisbane was going nowhere until at least Monday.

In the meantime, it was the players' day off, and having only packed for two nights, many of them hit the shops or met with sponsors to fill up their travel bags with more clothes.

Monday morning was chaos.

Brisbane flew four players south – Marcus Adams, Connor Ballenden, Darcy Gardiner and Rhys Mathieson – in case its Thursday night match was switched from the Gabba to Marvel Stadium.

With the reinforcements in the air, the team trained at Port Melbourne, still not knowing where they'd be playing three days later.

Not long after they got off the track, the news came through.

Following confirmation Brisbane would go into a three-day lockdown, the match was switched and the Lions were looking at a more lengthy stay in Victoria's capital. 

With injury concerns in its squad, the four players became crucial.

"We had to let them know they could be flying in and flying back out an hour later (because match still could have been at Gabba when they took off)," Daly said.

"We were quite lucky they got in two hours before Brisbane was made a red-zone or they would have been turned around."

Club sponsor XL Express was able to transport necessary training gear.

Then there was schoolboy Harry Sharp.

"He had an exam on Monday and an assignment due Tuesday," Daly said.

"The club is trying to work out if he can sit his exam after the game this weekend.

"We were in lockdown for a couple of days, so he had plenty of time to get his assignment done and email it in."

Since Tuesday's training session at Punt Rd, things have been relatively 'normal'.

There's still no certainty around where they'll stay next week, where they'll train, or even how more players can join the team, but there is certainty over the next two matches and that's a relief.

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"Sometimes adversity brings out the best in human beings," Daly said.

Coach Chris Fagan agreed, saying he relished the opportunity to show the rest of the competition his team could cope with adversity.

"What happened last year was very very difficult for all the teams that came from the other states and it was to our advantage, I don't think there's any arguing about that," he said.

"We now find ourselves in a similar situation and we're looking to respond in the best possible way."