As the sun pierced the curtains in my room in the Royal Pines Resort hub, there was a gut feeling it would be a bright start to a good day.
And so it occurred.
Without foresight or any inclination of any significant development, things were rolling along in what is the new normal for those of us in isolation on the Gold Coast.
Breakfast in the dining area, a coffee in the foyer, catching up with people we must in order to plan what lies ahead. A quick chat to the coach to see if he could fit in a radio interview request, locking in a meeting with Craig Vozzo (GM Football) to record an injury update later in the day.
A ‘teams meeting’ with cohorts back in Perth. There was nothing out of the ordinary in the first few hours.
Everyone at the club had been buoyant when WA Premier Mark McGowan announced that as of this weekend our home State would be loosening restrictions even further, allowing crowds of up to 30,000 people, that number increasing to capacity at Optus Stadium by mid-July.
It was a great fillip to everyone in the hub. Some much-needed positive news.
Then, around lunch-time on the east coast, Mr McGowan had another ace to pull from his sleeve, announcing that when both West Coast and Fremantle do return to WA, the players and staff will be able to quarantine at home.
While life at Royal Pines Resort is anything but taxing and the staff, both within resort and those from the AFL who are here to oversee operations, could not be more accommodating, it was a significant announcement.
It means that rather than going into quarantine upon returning to Perth, we can isolate at home. Again to protect those closest to us, strict conditions will apply – and so they should.
I have seen the commentary around this over the last four or five days and the advice from most people would be to suck it up. That’s easy from an outsider’s perspective.
The difficulty for those who have relocated indefinitely to the Gold Coast is that after five or six weeks in hotel accommodation, without families and loved ones, it would be difficult to cop another couple of weeks in quarantine.
Your family can be there, they say. If only it were that easy.
Partners and children would need to lock down at home for a week. No work, no school. Then, they might come here for a week, return and quarantine for another week. That’s a month without work (assuming operating from home is not possible) and without school. It’s complex.
It’s also impossible to imagine a safer group of people crossing back over the WA border. Like every other West Australian there is a great sense of pride in how Sandgropers have coped with the impact of this COVID-19 pandemic.
And players and staff from both the Eagles and Dockers have been a part of that vigilant approach that has seen our State handle the situation better than anywhere in the world.
Before coming to Queensland we were in quarantine for three weeks. Segregated at work. Downstairs in the football department for those travelling and upstairs for the skeleton staff required to tick the club along.
State regulations would permit me to play golf with a few mates, as is a Sunday custom, but was not allowed under AFL regulations.
AFL guidelines also decreed that a group of walking buddies who amble down the coast every Saturday would do so without one member of the team indefinitely.
We have been COVID-tested up to two times a week for the last six weeks. Our temperature is checked every day, we have to sign a declaration daily to say we have abided by the protocols. Failure to commit to these stringent measures would mean we would not be here.
The Queensland Government allowed our entry only on those terms they negotiated with the AFL. They are vigilant with their border control as were in the west. We understand the need to comply. Without their concessions we would not be playing at all.
Aside from leaving this environment to train, exercise, go for a surf, grab a coffee or other essentials we stay within home base. That’s the deal.
Now when we come home, we can come home.
