Hawthorn Coach Alastair Clarkson believes the football industry has a responsibility to provide an outlet throughout a difficult time for society.

Clarkson acknowledged the range of impacted factors that confront the community currently are far-reaching at the moment but said that he hoped Round 1 this weekend could provide fans with something to smile about.

"Every industry is hurting and that's why I don't really want to talk about money," Clarkson said. 

"What we're about is how we can put on entertainment and play a game of footy that, for the masses, is heavily appreciated right across the nation."

"We want to make sure we do our bit for humankind and get ourselves in as safe as a place as we can, in terms of restricting this disease. 

"But also, secondly, the most important thing that we feel we have a responsibility towards is to provide some sort of entertainment and release in a pretty tough time for as long as the authorities allow us. 

"In terms of what happens with the game and finances and who takes cuts and all that sort of stuff, I'm not really interested in talking about that so much because for me and for our players and for our club and for the AFL, the most important thing are those first two priorities."