Fremantle president Dale Alcock says the club will do everything in its power to limit their reliance on outside help as it navigates the Covid-19 crisis.

Speaking on ABC Grandstand, Alcock was confident Fremantle would survive the crisis but added it was important that the club did so in a position of strength.

“From a club perspective, it’s about us wanting to borrow the least amount possible and to eradicate that as quickly as practicable,” Alcock told ABC Grandstand.

“We won’t be taking up that support without being in a position to need to do so.

“But that said, I don’t believe, with the event that’s occurring at the moment, that there’s any shame or stigma with a club taking it up.

“I don’t think there’s any great special importance of being an unassisted club, either, so I think it’s been very fairly structured and put together.”

Alcock said that he expects there to continue to be 18 AFL clubs going forward.

“We know that we’re going to survive this, we’re going to come through it and we’re going to be stronger as a result of it,” Alcock said.

“That’s our position. There will be two AFL teams in Western Australia and Fremantle will be one of them. West Coast and footy commission funding is not something that’s being considered and it’s not something that as a club we would expect.

“From our point of view, the AFL financial assistance package is there.

“There’s clearly a commitment from all 18 clubs that 18 enter and 18 come through this, so that’s the only thing we’re focused on and the rest is, in my opinion, noise.”

Alcock added that he would not consider a future of the Fremantle Football Club that did not include its AFLW team. 

“I’d be so strident as to say we’d die in a ditch over that,” Alcock said.

“It should be and is part of the fabric of the AFL, now and into the future, so I would defend that until the cows come home.

“We’re not just using words to say we’re committed to it, the girls are just so much part of our club and its culture.”