Fremantle have made special arrangements with Perth Airport as the Dockers prepare for an unprecedented flight to Melbourne this afternoon amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Dockers’ normal Virgin flight two days out from Saturday’s clash with Essendon at Marvel Stadium has been cancelled to the public, making it effectively a club charter plane.

The plane will resemble a hospital room as Fremantle takes every precaution to prevent any player contracting COVID-19.

Coach Justin Longmuir, preparing for his first game as a senior coach in extraordinary circumstances, was happy with what had been put in place.

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“I feel like we’re well prepared and I feel like the AFL and Virgin have done a great job to provide us those necessities in what’s presented,” Longmuir said.

“It looks like at this stage we’ll meet in the car park and walk through the airport as a group and try and distance ourselves a little bit from the general public.

“We’ve got a chartered flight that Virgin have provided us, so we’ll be on a plane by ourselves. We’ve obviously got the hand sanitisers and face masks and that sort of thing as well.”

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The Dockers have moved gym equipment and some training sessions from their Cockburn base to Optus Stadium to better separate the men’s and women’s programs.

“We’ve just tried to make sure that we’re isolating ourselves from potential risks I suppose,” Longmuir said.

“The players have done a fantastic job. Our staff have done a fantastic job of isolating themselves and limiting any risk and that’s probably what it’s all about.”

Speaking at a remote press conference organised without any media being in the room, Longmuir confirmed forward Sam Sturt will be the only debutant.

He said No.8 draft pick Caleb Serong had narrowly missed selection in the 22.

Serong and fellow top-10 draftees Hayden Young and Liam Henry are all pushing to feature early in the season, but their development has been complicated by the scrapping of the WAFL competition until at least June.