Gold Coast SUNS CEO Mark Evans says the club will need to be “incredibly nimble and agile” in order to navigate its way through the suspended AFL season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The SUNS have had to stand down the majority of its football and administration staff amidst the competition shutdown period which will span until at least May 31.
Evans addressed the media on Thursday afternoon and stressed the importance of working in phases to mitigate the impact on the club as much as possible.
“This first phase is about how do we deal with this shutdown period for the competition,” Evans said.
“Then we’ll deal with how do we build that back up and prepare for games and then how do we execute those games.
“We are going to have to be incredibly nimble and agile to deal with all of those things across the rest of this year.
“We’ll work diligently through that as an industry and we’ll do whatever we have to.
“My hope is that we get back to full speed as soon as possible for the health of every person in our club and every person in the industry.
“But we’ll do whatever we have to, to make sure that our competition is vibrant and lasts well into the future.”
Despite the difficult period for everyone involved, Evans praised the attitudes of the club’s supporter base.
He said the club was working through strategies to repay the fans for their astonishing level of support in these trying times.
“I’ve been incredibly surprised by members and partners and supporters and the way that they’ve given their support to the club all the way through the start of this year,” he said.
“So far we would have had that many people say we’re sticking with you.
“Once we can work out what the season entails (with the AFL), we’ll work out some options particularly for members as to what we can do.
“But we really need to understand what happens with the rest of the season before we can do that.
“(We have to) do everything that we can to make sure that the code, that includes all the way down to community football, remains healthy and vibrant and gets going as soon as it can.”
