Geelong players have vowed to pretend AFL games behind closed doors never happened in order to keep Col Hutchinson’s record alive.

Hutchinson, a diehard Cats supporter and one of footy’s original stats gurus, hadn’t missed a single Geelong game since July 20th, 1963.

That streak of 1294 games ended when the ball was bounced for the Cats’ clash with GWS behind closed doors in Sydney on Saturday night.

Hutchinson told 7NEWS on Thursday he was “anticipating the emotion” of watching his first live Geelong game from home since before colour TV was introduced.

While the statistician in Hutchinson might not appreciate the gesture, Cats stars Patrick Dangerfield and Joel Selwood are already preparing to welcome him back for his ‘1295th game in a row’ - whenever that might be.

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“Well, Col, we’re in a sad situation at the moment - footy goes on but you won’t be here,” Selwood said.

“We’re going to keep counting, 1295 from the time that you come back. It’s not quite the same without you here.”

Hutchinson and hundreds of thousands of other footy fans are unlikely to see their teams in person for months, if at all this season.

The federal government has warned restrictions to limit the spread of coronavirus could last until September.

So far the AFL has allowed limited family to attend games in round one, with parents of some debutants allowed in but most of the few spaces available restricted to football or essential staff.