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Essendon coach John Worsfold is self-isolating in Western Australia for two weeks.Credit:Getty Images

This week the WA government enforced border controls in an attempt to control the spread of the coronavirus. The AFL suspended the 2020 season on Sunday but not before completing round one,including Essendon's clash with Fremantle at Marvel Stadium on Saturday.

"I managed to get back to Perth yesterday,but I'm in self isolation now for 14 days. I couldn't get back prior to the WA borders closing so that's the reality of it,"Worsfold told SEN on Thursday.

"It was something I felt I needed to do. My family were going to come over for round one,so that was planned,that then couldn't take place because of everything that was happening so I've managed to get home which is critically important for me and my family.

"I'm here for the next two weeks at least as we wait to see what the next move has to be."

The veteran AFL coach said despite the financial crisis engulfing the game and current and future cuts to football department spending,clubs will continue to search for an edge.

"The AFL has always stretched itself to the absolute limit to be elite and find the best way to do things,"Worsfold said.

"As the game has been able to support that,it's kept going that way. Now this[the COVID-19 pandemic] is certainly going to challenge the ability to do that.

"The pulling back of the football department spend by maybe 30 per cent is going to force everybody to say'what's absolutely necessary and what's the stuff that we would like to be able to do that would keep us at the forefront of development that we just can't afford to do at the moment'.

"We saw[previously] when the soft cap came in one of the first things to go was the altitude camps,which was a fairly big spend in a football department for what people believe was maybe a small advantage,but no one could really definitively say that was going to be a big difference."

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