Eddie McGuire declares footy will “never be the same again”

The AFL industry is preparing for a long and uncertain future after league chief Gillon McLachlan announced yesterday the season would be postponed until at least May 31 due to the escalating COVID-19 pandemic.

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire is a key member of the AFL's emergency cabinet and told Channel 9 the hardest calls still lie ahead.

"It's like every business in Australia at the moment, working through the cash flow. It's going to be hard. It's going to devastate our industry, the football industry in general. It will never be the same again," McGuire said.

"It has been heartbreaking all the way through, from our initial lock-out of our supporters because that's why we exist, to play for our supporters and for our members, and of course, today, the national knock-on effect that is affecting everyone in Australia will hit the football industry.

"The AFL will have to look after its own business. Each of the clubs is now sitting down and working through just what happens from here, as far as our staff, not just the players, but we have big staff and we have events, businesses, we have all sorts of things happening.

"But we'll have to rebuild it and we will work through it together side-by-side to make sure we all get through as best as we possibly can."

Key talks continue as the AFL enters its first interrupted season since World War II.