Nathan Buckley has stressed the need for a gradual lead-in to the AFL season return to ensure player welfare and quality of the product.
Amid growing confidence the 2020 campaign could resume next month, the Collingwood coach said his players had responded well to an increased football-specific workload over the past fortnight.
But he said they would need several weeks of training at a higher intensity once coronavirus restrictions were lifted to allow clubs and players to operate at full capacity.
"There's no doubt you could actually go and play a game of football (straight away) but you're not going to get quality," Buckley told SEN Breakfast.
"You are going to get athletes that are sore and you will lose guys (to injury).
"We've got to get a season out, there's no doubt, but we might as well try and get a quality season out.
"You might as well get the best that you can get out."
Buckley said that meant at least three weeks of unrestricted training, which has been termed 'Level C' under the government's return-to-sport framework.
"If time allows, and I think it does, a couple of weeks at that level with that up to 10 (person limit) and three (weeks) at Level C," he said.
"If it came in at Level C straight away then three weeks, four weeks might be enough.
"But I believe that slowly ramping it up or more gradually ramping it up is going to be important to actually look after the players and still get the product out at the end."
AFL clubs are hopeful they will not be required to enter quarantine hubs in order to restart the season.
But Buckley said nothing could be taken for granted in an unpredictable environment as the AFL continues to work with government and health authorities in plotting its path forward.
"We can't assume that the way things are today are the way that they are going to be," Buckley said.
"This thing (virus) has not been predictable, it has not been linear.
"We think we've got a handle on it now but we do talk about a second wave or losing control of it again at some point and I think that's probably a reality."
from WWOS http://wwos.nine.com.au/afl/buckley-wants-gradual-afl-training-return/baa209ba-ae66-4e60-9050-3b560e302722
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