The leagues have allocated a seven-week block that they will aim to complete the four week finals series in.

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It means that grand final day could be moved to as late as October 2, if lockdowns are put in place and finals can't be played when scheduled.

CHFL president Doug Hobson told The Courier it was an idea the leagues believed was the fairest for every club, one the clubs encouraged.

"To try and give them (clubs) a full finals series, I reckon that gives them some good closure at the end of the year to know that we've been able to play finals, if we've been able to, provided we don't get any COVID shutdowns," he said.

The leagues had originally decided that if a week of finals was lost due to lockdown, then two teams would be dropped out for every week lost.

If the first week was lost, the top eight would have become a top six, if week two was lost, that top six would have become a top four and so on.

"The original plan was to try and keep that date on September 11, which if we get the next four weekends in there we'll be able to complete that," Hobson said.

"If you happen to lose a final, that's one degree of disappointment, but to be lined up (to) play a final and you don't have a chance to play it because of a COVID event, that's just another degree of disappointment.

"We thought rather than do that, we're better to look at ... going up until (October 2), that will allow us seven weeks to complete four rounds of footy."

The leagues' preference is to host grand final day at Mars Stadium, however, they have other locations in mind in case that plan is affected due to lockdown.

If crowds are not allowed to attend or numbers are significantly capped, the leagues have flagged the possibility of moving away from Mars to a more financially viable option.

Pushing the date back also runs the risk of clashing with other planned events at the stadium.

"Our preference is always, providing we can get a weekend that Mars is free and we can also get crowds, to play at Mars," Hobson said.

When it comes to back-up options, the leagues have plenty of choices, but one ground sticks out as a leader at the moment.

"At the moment, we've got quite a few (options), but probably Learmonth, (it's) a good ground," Hobson said.

"This year it's only been played on three times for home and aways plus training.

"Learmonth is a possibility but our first preference is always to play on Mars."

Ballarat grounds are an option the leagues may consider, however, usage and cost will be hoops to jump through in that scenario.

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