Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks to focus on Crows mental state on Gold Coast lockdown that could trap families
Crows coach Matthew Nicks has told of his plans to prioritise his players’ mental health as they prepare to relocate to a Gold Coast isolation hub ahead of the AFL season restart.
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Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks is prioritising the mental state of a bruised playing group set to enter its Gold Coast quarantine hub ahead of the AFL’s 2020 restart.
The first-year coach’s concern for his players came as AFL chairman Richard Goyder on Saturday conceded the Crows’ Barossa Valley training breach “probably didn’t help” the league’s attempts to secure training and travel exemptions for the Crows and Port Adelaide.
A group of 16 Crows players broke AFL coronavirus protocols last week during a training session conducted while quarantining in the Barossa.
SA chief health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier said the breach had nothing to do with the decision to deny exemptions to the AFL clubs, but Goyder said it hadn’t helped the situation.
“It probably didn’t help the internal conversations in South Australia,” Goyder told ABC Grandstand radio.
“At the end of the day (the breach) was two times eight minutes and it was a stupid thing. It’s happened, we’ve dealt with it and the protocols from here on are pretty clear.”
AFL boss Gillon McLachlan has made it clear the league can afford no repeats of the Crows’ Barossa slip-up ahead of football’s June 11 resumption. But in planning for its Gold Coast quarantine, Adelaide remains unclear about restrictions on player families allowed into the hub.
The AFL announced on Friday it would foot the bill for Adelaide, Port Adelaide, West Coast and Fremantle players quarantining on the Gold Coast who wanted to bring family with them into their hubs. An AFL spokesman told the Sunday Mail a decision would be made early next week whether families should be subjected to the same hotel- to-ground lockdown players had to observe to avoid a COVID-19 outbreak.
“We have plans in place for what might come about over the next week and plans in place if there is any change to that,” said Nicks. “That has been the hardest part the whole way through, not knowing what is coming next.
“I understand how tough it must be at the top at the moment trying to make some decisions around where the game is going.”
McLachlan says families joining hubs will be subjected to the same testing and distancing protocols as players. However, there will be little point in players isolating if exposed to family members who have been mixing in the community at Queensland’s popular attractions.
The Crows and Power expect to take 60 players and staff to the Gold Coast, where full-contact training will start on May 25. The SA Government is enforcing no-contact training until June 8 and refused a “fly in, fly out” exemption for the Adelaide-based clubs to play matches.
The AFL anticipates families may join club camps for the first weeks of a two-month Gold Coast quarantine hub. Four to six matches will be played in the first season block in Queensland between Adelaide, Port, West Coast, Fremantle, Brisbane and the Suns.
After Adelaide’s Barossa isolation infringement, assistant coach Ben Hart copped a six-game ban and 16 players were sanctioned. Nicks is concerned with ensuring that Adelaide’s younger players emerge unscathed from any feeling of guilt in their Barossa isolation breach.
“Getting around our guys, players and staff, is the priority. We have had some guys go through a really tough time throughout this quarantine, guys who are in the Barossa Valley,” said Nicks, adding there was “no doubt” Chayce Jones and Ned McHenry would get “quality midfield minutes” when Round 2 commences on June 11.
“Physically they’ll be fine, but it’s that mental side of things, like not being able to get face-to-face with your group, being isolated from the community. It’s tough.”
A return-to-play protocol has been given to clubs, with players to undergo education programs this week.
Players will receive AFLPA-sanctioned penalties for social-distancing protocol breaches.