The prospect of community and elite sport going ahead this season will be discussed at a National Cabinet meeting on Friday.
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed that the National Cabinet - which involves state and federal leaders - will discuss draft guidelines for the return of sport.
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The guidelines will affect competitions like the NRL and A-League. As such, fans of the Newcastle Knights and Newcastle Jets will learn more about their teams' chances of getting back on the field this season.
The guidelines will also give insight into the likelihood of a return to training and playing this winter season for thousands of Hunter residents involved in junior and senior community sport.
University of Newcastle Professor Phil Morgan, who plays and coaches sport, believed the return to sport would be "a phased approach, a bit like the return to schools".
Professor Morgan said the optimistic position was that community sport could return in some form "in the second half of the year, maybe through training".
"There are some unknowns and we don't know yet when sport will be back in action," he said.
He added that his instincts were that junior sport would be more of a priority than senior sport.
"Unfortunately my mighty division six Thursday night basketball team - the Impostors - may miss a season.
"The elite sports with stricter protocols and no crowds - that's a different sphere. But for adult community sport, I think they'll see how they go with kids first."
Various codes have been planning for competitions to begin in July, with a public health order on gatherings in place until June 29.
But uncertainty around controlling the coronavirus means a return to action in July isn't guaranteed.
Professor Morgan said a "reality check" was probably needed. While junior sport may return to training for a couple of months in winter, competition may not return until September, he said.
He said people shouldn't get their hopes up too much because senior sport may not get the chance to return until "September-October".
He added that different sports may go back at different times, given the need for social distancing. The nature of physical contact between players and the amount of space on fields and courts will be considered. Cricket, for example, has much less contact and more space than netball.
As schedules are made and remade, bottlenecks could emerge between winter and summer sports, along with difficulties in managing registration fees.
Netball NSW chief executive Carolyn Campbell said draft guidelines that National Cabinet is due to consider on Friday were expected to be further developed by the states.
"We look forward to working with the subsequent NSW guidelines and conditions," she said.
When junior sport returns, parents will be asked to adhere to social distancing rules while watching sport. Possibly only one parent would be allowed to attend training and games.
Children will be asked to abide by rules on the field such as no handshaking, celebrating and sharing food and drink.
The prospects of senior community sport being played this winter season could be reliant on whether junior sport can be done safely.
Decisions about whether to allow senior community sport are expected to consider the fact that transmission of the coronavirus and the severity of COVID-19 is worse among adults.
Furthermore, authorities are concerned about holding winter sport with the dual risk of COVID-19 and influenza.
Sports are planning for several scenarios, including the possibility that winter sport is cancelled and registration money returned.
Ms Campbell, the Netball NSW CEO, said the example of the return of schools across the country showed such decisions can be "a mixed bag".
"I'd like to be optimistic that the guidelines will give us a clear framework and pathway as to how we can return to play," she said.
"It goes without saying that the safety of everybody is the number one priority."
Northern NSW Football chief executive David Eland said "it's great that community sport is on the national agenda, including the development of guidelines which will underpin the resumption of community football".
"We're doing whatever we can to make sure we can respond if community sport is given the green light," Mr Eland said.
Professor Morgan said it was encouraging to be in a position to consider the return of winter sport.
"Kids were potentially facing a year of school, sport and friendships being wiped out," Professor Morgan said.
Until a vaccine is found, society could be faced with going back and forth between different strategies for community sport.
The reaction of people to restrictions around community sport will be key factors in whether it can "progress or regress".
"If we are to return to sport, if people really want this, we need to be able to accept and respect the restrictions that are recommended."
Professor Morgan said the lack of community sport was "a huge gap in people's lives at the moment and it is affecting their physical and mental health".
He said some families had taken up leisure pursuits in the outdoors like bike riding and bush walking.
These adventures could potentially lead some families to continue to pursue those activities instead of organised sport.
"I'm in the camp for sport - absence makes the heart grow fonder," Professor Morgan said.
"Kids play sport and have fun with their friends. And parents enjoy watching their children play sport, but they also enjoy the social connection with other parents."
Nevertheless, some families might have trouble getting their kids back to sport for financial reasons related to job losses and reduced income.
"Hopefully some of the sporting associations will be able to support families who might have trouble at this time," University of Newcastle senior lecturer Narelle Eather said.
"As communities we can help promote that, rather than families feeling like they have to pull their kids from sport because of financial reasons.
"I'm sure there are lots of individuals and families who would support people really keen to get their kids into sport."
Dr Eather said 60 to 70 per cent of kids play organised sport outside of school.
"But as kids progress through childhood into adolescence, we have a huge drop-out rate especially among girls," Dr Eather said.
Her research targets the reasons why kids drop out of sport. So the existing situation with sport on the sidelines because of COVID-19 is particularly interesting.
"There will be some kids who miss sport and can't wait to get back," she said.
But for those kids who weren't enjoying sport, the break from playing may be "a release from a negative experience".
Dr Eather said it was a concern that kids have had "a period of time where they're not engaged in organised sport".
Some may not want to return.
"I think the focus should be on how clubs, teams and coaches make sure that - when they do come back - the experience is a positive one," she said.
Dr Eather said a Hunter Medical Research Institute-funded study with soccer coaches in Newcastle had just been completed.
"We tried to educate the coaches on how to make the experience for young kids fun and positive, so they enjoy sport," she said.
This involved advising coaches on "key, easy-to-change coaching behaviours".
The idea was that sport should be about fun and learning, "not who scores the most, who wins, getting shouted at and what they're doing wrong".
The study involved PhD student and soccer coach Brad Jones.
"Positive coaching is really important," Mr Jones said.
"Research tells us that the perception of players who decide to drop out from organised sport say a 'bad coach' is one of the highest reasons for them not wanting to play anymore."
Positive coaching uses the idea of building on the players' strengths to tackle new concepts, "giving them the confidence to want to try and grow".
"If a player has a positive experience and perceives their coach to be positive, they're hopefully more likely to want to play again," he said.
Youngsters who continue to play sport "receive the health benefits of playing and enjoying regular physical activity."
"We want all players to become lifelong advocates and players of whatever sport they love. Positive coaching can help enormously in this regard," he said.
