Brodie Smith and Tom Rockliff say they are prepared to play anywhere, anytime and under any rules if it means the AFL season can resume

Brodie Smith and Tom Rockliff say they will play anywhere – even being quarantined interstate and backing up twice a week – and under any rules including bringing back the sub’s vest if it means the AFL season can resume. Crows midfielder Smith has been training with Chayce Jones and Luke Brown for the past two weeks while Power midfielder Tom Rockliff ended his two-week home isolation by walking the dog and going for a run on Sunday. “I certainly felt the effects of having two weeks off, very sore in the legs and back, two weeks on the couch and then getting out and trying to run wasn’t the easiest thing and the body is feeling every bit of 30 today,” said Rockliff, whose daily videos with son Jack in isolation went viral. Both told The Advertiser’s Lowdown Podcast they were encouraged by comments from AFL football operations boss Steve Hocking over the weekend that the league was briefing clubs on scenarios to resume the season. The Crows are eyeing May 4 to return to the club for training but that is not set in stone. “It’s always positive to see … we’re only two weeks into no footy and we’re going made already,” Smith said. “We’re ready to go back to training properly and get back into the club, I saw (talk of) a three-week pre-season once we get back and that’s probably all we’d need if we’re doing the right things away from the club now. “Get three weeks of match sim (simulation) and a bit of conditioning under the belt and we’ll be ready to go. Hopefully that is the case and we’re only a month or two away from getting back out there. “But whatever we have to do, all the players would be keen to do whatever it takes to get back out there and pump some games out.” Smith said he was open to being quarantined in a state to play a series of games if that’s what it took. “We’re all losing our minds a bit at the moment so whatever we have to do to get back out there, whether it’s extra players on the bench, a sub rule, if we can just get some games out and if we have to play a couple in a week – the older guys might struggle a bit – but if younger guys get an opportunity to show what they’ve got under these circumstances then so be it,” he said. “It would be pretty interesting to be locked up in a hotel with all your teammates, for myself I don’t have a family so I’m not leaving a kid behind but for guys like Rocky it’s a different situation and would be pretty tough. “But if it’s a month or two and we have to be locked up interstate and we can get some footy out and it’s for the better of the game and for us as well then I’m sure that would be explored.” Rockliff said most clubs would play an internal trial game in preparation for the competition to resume. “I think it’s plenty of time given we’ve got a month to build our fitness program, it gives us 7-8 weeks before we’re eyeing a return,” he said. “You would go into some sort of match simulation at training, most clubs do that throughout the season anyway, whether you’d have a full blown practice match I’d probably say you wouldn’t but maybe at training 20-minute blocks of 18 on 18 or whatever you can get on the track.” Rockliff said the shortened season and obvious interruptions would not take anything away from the club that comes out of the year on top. “I don’t think there would be any player or football club in the competition that wouldn’t be celebrating it like a premiership and something that no one can ever take off you,” he said. “That’s the ultimate goal for any player and I don’t think there would be an asterisk next to it. The team that won would enjoy it and in difficult circumstances if you were good enough to come out the other side of this pandemic and win a grand final I think it would be an amazing thing for yourself and your football club and the excitement and joy they would feel in such difficult times.”