Spending a month in south-east Queensland isn’t how anyone at West Coast thought the 2020 season would unfold, but running machine Andrew Gaff believes the club can turn the situation into an advantage.

The Eagles will fly out for the Gold Coast early next week with a nearly fully-fit squad and will have the unique chance to bond away from home.

“We spend so much time away every second week we feel like we’ve got a pretty tight bond as it is,” Gaff told SEN.

“But I think for the younger guys who are new to the team and a guy like Tim Kelly who is from another club that extra chance to bond with us is going to help these guys on-field.”

The AFL has only revealed the next four rounds of the fixture given uncertainty over border restrictions, which has forced the Eagles, Fremantle, Adelaide and Port Adelaide into hubs to restart the season.

After a month away, Gaff hoped West Coast would be able to host a run of home games back in Perth.  

“We’re so used to one home game, one away game for 22 rounds and then finals who knows, so to get four in a row at home would be really good and really beneficial to our families, especially after spending that long time away on the Gold Coast,” he said.

Whether fans will be allowed to attend later in the season is another question that remains unanswered, although the AFL is mapping out plans if the COVID-19 situation allows spectators back at grounds.

“We feel like we’ve got some of the best fans in the whole competition and we know that other teams are pretty intimidated coming over to the west and if we can get them back at our games as quickly as possible no doubt it’s going to provide us with an advantage and I think it’d be great,” Gaff said.

“We’ve come a long way the last couple of months in terms of the severity of everything that’s been happening, but if we can slowly get back to having fans at games it’s going to make the game even more appealing with a few new rules and shortened quarters.

“It’s going to be exciting for everyone to watch.”