Adelaide veteran Taylor Walker has reflected on a whirlwind 24 hours which saw the Crows fly to Melbourne with just hours to pack their bags. 

On Tuesday morning, Walker headed to the Club under newly-introduced Stage 4 restrictions for a team meeting. 

“We had a meeting at the Club at 11 o’clock, I went in there just thinking we were doing game review,” he told Triple M’s The Rush Hour. 

“Twenty minutes into the meeting we got told we had another full meeting with everyone, all players and coaches.”

During those 20 minutes, the SA Government had announced a seven-day lockdown in a bid to stem a growing Covid-19 outbreak.

With Adelaide’s scheduled clash with Hawthorn under a cloud of uncertainty, a call had to be made. 

“We had to pack our bags and have our bags back at the footy Club by two o’clock, to fly out at four o’clock,” Walker said. 

“So then we got back there, and then we got told it wasn’t, and then we were going to Queensland, and then we weren’t, then we were going back to Melbourne.”

Walker said while leaving partners and young children was a tough decision for many players, his thoughts were with those in Adelaide. 

For many of the players, the decision to leave partners and young children behind with no end date on their departure was a challenging one. 

“I wouldn’t say it crossed my mind not to go, but we had to have the conversation - having family at home, whether Ellie would be fine to look after the kids without me,” Walker said. 

"The Club has been awesome with the support they’ve been able to give everyone"

“She’s going into a seven-day lockdown as well, so it’s going to be pretty tough for her. 

“But the Club has been awesome with the support they’ve been able to give everyone who has family back in Adelaide.”

While the side is unsure how long it will be in Melbourne, Walker said all eyes were firmly focused on the weekend. 

“We’re pretty lucky, we get to train on the ‘G tonight,” Walker said. 

“We’ll be able to train a couple of things and hopefully this weekend we can put them into place against Hawthorn.

“I reckon it’ll be day-by-day and we’ll see how things track back in South Australia.”

Adelaide is set to take on Hawthorn at Marvel Stadium on Saturday, July 24, at 7.10pm (ACST).