Wangaratta's Abraham Ankers won't know until 24 hours before if he plays

Ankers has been making the 5000-kilometre round trip for matches.

However, Alice Springs's 72-hour lockdown started at 1pm on Wednesday when an employee from the Tanami gold mine in Central Australia spent seven hours at the airport last Friday.

He tested positive on returning to South Australia.

The lockdown is scheduled to finish at 1pm tomorrow.

While the circumstances surrounding the case could be considered 'bad luck' for Alice Springs, the fact Wangaratta has the only Sunday game in a four-month period could be an unbelievable break for the Pies.

"If it was a Saturday game, I would be no chance," Ankers admitted from Alice Springs yesterday.

"If everything goes well (with the lockdown) and it's above board and I can get down there, by all means I'll be getting down there to play, but if I can't, I can't."

If Ankers is eligible to play, he will fly to Melbourne late Saturday afternoon and then drive to Wangaratta.

For a player who's now racked up 45,000km in his nine games, Ankers' form has been remarkable.

He's featured in the best in seven matches, including the club's best on ground four times.

The speedy on-baller is a strong Morris Medal contender, although fellow excitement machines Joe Richards and Callum Moore could steal votes, while Michael Bordignon's been terrific.

Ankers owns a building business in the Northern Territory city with the original plan to move to Victoria.

"Yeah, I'm still looking to move down there as soon as I can, but it's just trying to get everything to align away from footy," he offered.

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"At finals time I'm looking to come down, if I'm not there already."

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