West Coast CEO Trevor Nisbett hopes the club will be able to play home games at Optus Stadium this year, and believes a hub in Western Australia is possible.

The long-time chief executive was delighted season 2020 has a restart date and has come to terms with shifting to the Gold Coast temporarily to help get the campaign back underway.

“I think it’s disappointing that we have to go but we’ve been working with the state (government) for a couple of months trying to find a solution and there isn’t one as yet because obviously the health and safety of all West Australians is paramount and we understand that,” Nisbett told 6PR.

“The south-east Queensland option was the next best option we thought mainly because of the facilities available and we’re going to be able to spread the guys out and make sure it’s the safest space and place we can go to at this point in time.

“We’re comfortable with the decision we’ve made and we’re hopeful that it’s only going to be four weeks after that commencement of the season (on June 11).”

Nisbett expects the AFL to release the first four weeks of fixtures within the next 10 days and matches against both Queensland teams plus the two South Australian clubs who are also set to base themselves in south-east Queensland next month appear likely.

The Eagles want to play fixtures back at home later this year and Nisbett believed a hub in the west with other clubs basing themselves in Perth would be possible - if opponents are unable to fly into WA without being required to quarantine for 14 days. 

“I think there’s a lot of opportunity and over these next two months things will change and continue to change as they have done for the last 54 days we’ve been dealing with this major issue,” he said.

“Consequently, we’re hopeful that we can get back to Perth and get some games away.

“Having Freo with us (on the Gold Coast) is obviously a good thing in that sense, because if we both have to travel home together and quarantine we may be able to play each other during or after that quarantine period.”

While the club awaits the fixture, there remains uncertainty whether the Eagles would have to play “home” games while on the eastern seaboard.

“I’m a realist, they’re actually away games whether we like it or not,” Nisbett said.

“I don’t think there’s too much homeliness about whatever we do up there. But how they fixture them we don’t know – I don’t think they know at the AFL yet.

“There’s so many twists and turns to come over this season it’s really speculative to think that one might be an away game and one might be a home game in a foreign town I guess.

“We’re prepared for everything and anything.

“I think most players are getting their head around this, they’ve probably been trying to do that for a while knowing this could be an option for the AFL and the club.

“I don’t think everyone is thrilled about having to go away for a four-week stint, but if you remember rightly years ago when we played in the ‘90s we had three and four games and at one stage six games on the road, so we weren’t home anyway. It is a challenging event.

“Mind you these challenges that are put up, most players and our staff when you talk to them are up for the challenge and most are looking forward to it.”