As the coronavirus outbreak worsens, CEO Gillon McLachlan has confirmed the AFL premiership has been postponed until late May.

AFL 2020 season postponed: 'I never thought it would come to this'

Port Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas admits the future of the AFL club’s longstanding state league outfit could be in jeopardy as the sport grapples with the financial crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Port Adelaide Magpies are South Australia’s most successful Australian rules team with 36 SANFL premierships – a national record across the major state-based competitions.

The club is celebrating its 150th year in 2020, but it could also be the Magpies’ last.

“I would hate to contemplate that the Port Magpies won’t get through,” Thomas said on SEN SA Breakfast Monday morning.

“We are committed to it in the SANFL, but we’ll have to wait and see.

“The reality is we have to see where this lands, I don’t know how the SANFL is planning to move through it.

“It’s too early in the conversation to fully understand what’s going to happen to football in general.

“There are going to be a lot of structural conversations in the next few months.”

As with all AFL clubs, Port Adelaide was forced to stand down about 80 per cent of its staff last week after the national competition went into shutdown.

Thomas’ comments about the Magpies came a few days after AFL club Carlton made the tough call to axe its state league affiliate, the Northern Blues, effectively ending the club’s 138-year existence. There are fears for other state league clubs as the football industry fights for survival.

Central District, South Australia’s most successful club this century, last week launched a fundraising campaign aimed at raising $250,000 to save it from extinction.

Meanwhile, Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley believes the game will be poorer for having fewer coaches in the AFL system when the competition shutdown is over.

AFL clubs are facing drastic reductions in football department spending because of the financial crisis caused by the coronavirus.

Each club’s soft cap expenditure is set to drop from $9.7 million this year to just $6.7 million for 2021. Many coaches, game analysts and recruiting staff will be made redundant as a result.

Some high-profile figures in the game, including AFL legend Malcolm Blight, have argued that the streamlining of coaching groups will create a more “pure” contest between players and lead to a better product.

But Hinkley disagrees.

“People are saying that the game may be better for it. I don’t think that’s probable, I don’t think that’s possible in my world,” Hinkley told SEN on Monday.

“I think the game is done really well now and I think anytime you go back, you probably take a step back.

“But I’m of the opinion that eventually the game will catch back up to where it is today and go forward and be better than it is.”

AAP