As New South Wales’s COVID-19 situation worsens and the A-League season creeps closer, Sydney FC coach Steve Corica is aware of the looming reality of starting the campaign in an interstate hub.
The Sky Blues, along with fellow NSW-based A-League clubs Central Coast, Macarthur FC, Newcastle and Western Sydney Wanderers are all undertaking preseason training during the state’s lockdown.
Melbourne Victory, Melbourne City and Western United are having to deal with Victoria’s latest lockdown amid their preseason preparations.
The prospect of being able to host games when the 2021-22 season kicks off on 30 October looks increasingly remote unless the situation in NSW improves dramatically in coming weeks.
The outbreak has already forced the postponement of FFA Cup fixtures while Football NSW has already cancelled all state competitions for the remainder of the year.
It’s left Corica and his staff unsure of when they will be able to play preseason fixtures and having to manage the return of overseas players such as English forward Adam Le Fondre, who is yet to travel back to Australia despite the squad returning to training last month.
While league bosses will be hopeful the situation in NSW will have improved enough to at least let the local teams play fixtures against each other for a period by the time the season starts, the prospect of following the lead of other codes in temporarily relocating teams looms large.
“I wouldn’t rule it out,” Corica told AAP.
“Obviously, we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do to get the league going and if that’s moving somewhere else to play in a hub then so be it.
“It’d be tough, obviously, to leave the family and obviously for the players as well to leave their families if that was the case but I suppose we’ve got to look after the family as well by getting the league going.”
A hub would be a new circumstance for Corica’s team but not for many of their rivals.
Non-NSW clubs had to spend weeks in the state to finish the 2019-20 season in a mini-tournament format after an initial shutdown due to coronavirus in March last year.
Wellington Phoenix had to wait 433 days to play a game in New Zealand across the past two campaigns, spending most of the 2020-21 season based in Wollongong.
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