Adjust and flex. Take a deep breath. Adjust and flex. Repeat.

The AFL yoga class of the last couple of years rolls on. Leg warmers and headbands optional, masks mandatory.

The league and the clubs have had to be inventive and supple to cope with the many challenges thrown in its path in the last two years. The prevailing attitude has been that the show must go on, but for periods that has not been possible.

And the cost, both in real terms and emotionally, has been draining. Last year the AFL was down $119m in revenue and recorded an operating loss of $22m. Most clubs lost money, but it could have been far worse had the three-month hiatus between rounds one and two extended further.

This week’s outbreak in Victoria saw a brace of clubs scamper out of Melbourne to avoid the cut-off when interstate borders would be slammed shut. It means that round 11 will proceed, although at a few different venues to those originally scheduled.

Matches in Melbourne will be played, albeit without crowds.

For the Western Bulldogs, who hosted Melbourne at Marvel Stadium last night, it will be painful. Conservatively, they likely lost several hundreds of thousands of dollars when the city went into lock-down and fans were locked out.

A week ago the Bulldogs would have been looking at all kinds of activations to ensure the capacity of around 54,000 was reached at Marvel Stadium.

That has not happened often in the last 21 years at Melbourne’s second-best stadium.

At West Coast, we can empathise with that situation because a lockout to our RAC Derby at Optus Stadium in round seven denied the club of about $2m. We were looking at 100 percent capacity a week out from the game and then there was a community transmission of the virus.

Chocolates to boiled lollies overnight. That was a big hit. Not a knock-out blow, but a decent right cross to the jaw.

We know other people and businesses took a whack with a three-day lock-down and that like everyone else the club follows the advice of the health experts and government, but it does not anaesthetise the pain.

At least for now (fingers crossed and touching every available piece of wood within arm’s reach), the latest emergency has been contained to Melbourne. We hope for our friends in football’s capital that the lock-down is brief and the spread is strangled.

In the meantime, the AFL industry will need to operate to its catch-cry of the last 18 months – agile and flexible. It is difficult to imagine that round 12 will not be impacted.

The Eagles are scheduled to play Carlton at the MCG next Sunday. That would appear highly unlikely.

For WA football fans, however, there could a positive outcome from this latest crisis. The ‘Dream Time at the G’ game could be transferred from the MCG to Optus Stadium. That would be a massive fillip for the game here.

The game between Essendon and Richmond, the clubs with whom Kevin Sheedy split the majority of his football life, has been the headline act of the Sir Doug Nicholls Round for many years.

While it would be disappointing for their stakeholders to be denied the opportunity, this would give WA footy fans the chance to see something different.

Of course, there would be a strong contingent of Bombers and Tigers fans in this State who would be delighted to see their teams one more time. Theatre goers, including West Coast and Fremantle fans, would also enjoy the opportunity. Not to mention those who support other AFL clubs.

Optus Stadium would get the chance to “show off’ too.