Hawthorn Coach Alastair Clarkson has likened the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the football industry to an “avalanche”.

News filtered through during the Hawks’ match against the Lions on Sunday that the AFL season was on hold until at least May 31.

A range of restrictive measures were put in place throughout the opening week of the season in an attempt to harness the spread of the outbreak, but ultimately the AFL commission was compelled to move on the postponing of the year.

“It’s disappointing but the reality of the situation is that it has been coming and it has been coming a little bit like an avalanche,” Clarkson said.

“I can’t believe how much it has changed in ten days - I think we thought we’d try and press forward and try to get three or four games out of the first couple of weeks, but it has just become that overwhelming in the end.”

Clarkson said he felt the game rose to the responsibility of providing a form of entertainment for the community across the weekend, but that now that responsibility and people’s attention should turn to those people who can have a greater influence on the curbing of this virus.

“The real leaders now aren’t the coaches or those in the football industry, it’s the medical people and those in the government.

“We need to respect the advice of those people now and work together.”