ONE THING we’ve learned in the past two seasons is that any COVID-related matters don’t stay relevant for long.

But as of Tuesday, the Demons are preparing for a Round 19 battle with the Western Bulldogs, before clashes with Gold Coast, West Coast, Adelaide and Geelong, to round out the home and away season.

With plenty of moving parts, Melbourne’s GM of Football Operations and COVID Compliance Manager, Daniel McPherson, sat down to provide some clarity, where he could.

And right now, it appears the Dees could be staring down a road trip in two weeks’ time.

“We haven’t been told anything official yet, but based off what other teams in a similar situation have had to do, all things being equal you’d imagine that we’ll go to the Gold Coast next week,” McPherson said on The Talking Points.

“Play up there then most probably fly across to Perth, quarantine for seven days, then play the Eagles before returning.”

And with that extended trip away comes some more potential complications for the playing group.

“If guys’ priorities are to stay home, with young families or whatever reason, we certainly won’t stand in the way of that and we’ll be fully supportive,” McPherson said.

“It’s not the end of the world.”

While all we can do at this point in time is speculate, the hope for fans to be back at the MCG in the short-term appears doubtful.

“I think the experience with the Wallabies game and the Carlton Geelong game in recent weeks has probably made the government and the AFL a bit more nervous about how quickly fans are likely to return,” McPherson said.

“We certainly haven’t had anything official, but I think it’ll be a slow return for fans coming back to the sporting games.”

For a full update on all the COVID related matters at the club, watch this week’s episode of The Talking Points below.