After weeks of anticipation and promotion about the AFL's return to a new season and big crowds, along comes COVID-19 as the ultimate gate-crasher.
Wednesday's events ahead of the blockbuster season opener between Melbourne and Western Bulldogs underscores a key issue facing the league this season - the mental health and resilience of so many people within the industry.
While AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan speaks of how well the men's and women's leagues have navigated two unprecedented years, Wednesday was a sobering reminder that they're far from out of the pandemic woods.
Victoria recorded its highest virus numbers in five weeks, Collingwood lost a player and two assistant coaches to health protocols for their round-one match and the Magpies' AFLW team requested the postponement of their qualifying final because they have too many Covid cases.
"We've been working hard to get people back to the footy this weekend, particularly in Melbourne, we're working hard to get people into community football," McLachlan told AAP.
"The overlay is, clearly, the ebb and flow of COVID.
"We are really clear that COVID hasn't gone away, but we're living with it. That's going to be the challenge of it.
"That's going to be the year. Maybe we didn't anticipate it in round one, but it was always anticipated.
"We're clear about the fact we're playing on, there are additional top-up players, and it's going to be a bit of luck, a bit of discipline, a bit of management for clubs to get through in the best possible shape."
The day before the Bulldogs took on their grand final nemeses, coach Luke Beveridge touched on the broader issue of what impact two years of the pandemic has had on the league.
Clubs have had their football department spending cut because of COVID-19 and Beveridge is outspoken what effect that's having on people working in the game.
It's a broad issue, with a shortfall as well of 6000 umpires at community level.
"The health and well-being of all our people is frankly our priority and we acknowledge how difficult a couple of years that it's been - for everyone," McLachlan said.
"We've worked hard to deal with the issues at hand. There's no road map for something like this, but we have a centralised head of mental health, we're running programs for staff, for clubs, for others as well.
"It's a real issue that requires ongoing attention.
"Everyone is doing the same or, frankly, more with less."
But equally, the AFL must press on and McLachlan is bullish that this season, with a return to crowds, can be the light at the end of the tunnel.
"Through the last two years, the conversation has too often been about what we don't have or haven't been able to do," he said at last week's season launch.
"Which is why I am so excited about what we do have and what is coming back - to build momentum around an AFL season.
"We are going ahead, and we are not for stopping."
Along the way, the AFL will soon decide whether the women's season should start in August.
In the next few months, it will also decide the thorny question of whether to grant an AFL licence to Tasmania.
That would mean a 19-team competition and the return of the weekly bye.
McLachlan's prececessor Andrew Demetriou says it must be 20 teams.
Asked if 19 teams would be workable, McLachlan said: "You have to work through what the implications are, but I think they're all solvable, yes."
