Crows National Recruiting Manager Hamish Ogilvie says there are far more important things to worry about than football as the world continues to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
In Australia, the AFL has been postponed until at least May 31 with around 80 per cent of industry workers, including club recruiting staff, forced to temporarily stand down from their roles.
Despite facing an uncertain shutdown period, Ogilvie’s thoughts remained with his colleagues and those in the wider community directly affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.
“There are more important things to worry about - our staff, our people, and the community,” Ogilvie told AFC Media.
“Nobody knows when footy’s going to start. Clearly AFL is going to be the first thing to start, and how everything else fits in or looks after that – really, we’d be guessing.”
Ogilvie, who has almost 20 years of experience in football, was resigned to extensive changes needing to take place across the landscape when some normality did return.
“There’s probably one thing we all know – it won’t look like what it did last year when we do come back,” he said.
“It’s going to be a different footy world that we live and work in, so we’ll have to deal with that when we get back.”
Much speculation in recent weeks has been on player wages and the overall number of players on club lists, with some pundits suggesting list sizes could be slashed from 44 players down to 35.
While some scenario planning has taken place to review list strategies, Ogilvie said it was too early to act until definitive direction has been provided by AFL House.
“It’s only speculation. Until we get something firm – some direct guidelines, some clear instructions, some rulings, we’re not going to worry,” he said.
“When we get more instructions, we’ll act on it. But you do a lot of scenario planning for many things, so we’ll deal with whatever comes up.
“But there are more important things to worry about and we know we’ve had no clear direction yet.”
Adelaide’s tight-knit recruiting team have remained in regular contact after Gillon McLachlan announced the shutdown of the League on Sunday, March 22.
While much of their work has been indefinitely put on hold, the dedicated employees are committed to ensuring they are prepared for the day football returns, whenever that may be.
“We’ve had virtual drinks on a Friday afternoon so that’s been good. We check in with each other,” Ogilvie said.
“We ask each other questions; people still have ideas and we still run past things past each other as we go.
“They will (continue working), knowing the people they are. That’s the same as the other clubs, I’ve spoken to a fair few of the other clubs.
“People are chipping away to be ready if and when they come back to work, so we’re all doing little bits and pieces which helps keep us sane so that we’re ready.”
