AFL news: North Melbourne player tests positive for Covid-19

North Melbourne has become the third AFL club to have a player test positive to Covid-19 and comes quickly after Hawthorn’s Finn Maginness tested positive last week.

Finn Maginness tested positive to Covid-19. Picture: Getty Images

North Melbourne is the latest club to be hit by Covid complications with at least one player quarantining for 14 days after testing positive in recent days.

The Herald Sun understands the club has limited exposure given pre-season has not started, so the case will not require staff to quarantine until they receive negative tests.

Hawthorn’s Finn Maginness was the second AFL player to test positive for Covid last week after Essendon’s Conor McKenna 18 months ago.

Hawks AFLW coach Bec Goddard told the Herald Sun on Friday of how she was nearly admitted to hospital last month with Covid and is still regaining her taste and smell.

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A Kangaroos player has become the third footballer to test positive in AFL ranks.

The Roos are set to kickstart rapid antigen tests as their players return to training in coming weeks.

Between 15 and 25 players have been attending informal sessions at Arden St three times a week, but only the Covid-positive player is believed to be quarantining.

North Melbourne was expecting every AFL player to have received their first dose by Sunday to put them on track to be double-vaccinated by December 6.

First-to-fourth-year players will have already had first doses as they return next week.

Carlton’s AFLW team had a Covid-positive player last week, with the Bulldogs and Richmond’s AFLW teams also affected.

Attention will turn to the AFL’s return-to-play Covid policies in coming months given players at this stage are only missing pre-season training sessions.

With Covid expected to spread through the community, clubs are eager to find out the details around how many days players will be out for if they test positive.

The AFL says it will be guided by state governments, with NBA players out for at least 10 days if they test positive even if double-vaccinated.

Ex-Hawk reveals AFL son’s Covid condition

The father of Hawthorn footballer Finn Maginness has provided an update on his son’s condition after he tested positive to Covid-19.

In an email to patients at his Brighton Chiropractor Clinic, Scott Maginness assured them his son was “very well” and his family has returned negative test results.

“I am really pleased to report Finn is very well, displaying cold-like symptoms and is isolating far away from home and is keen to see out his isolation time,” he said.

“To help ease your concerns or curiosities, all the family who live with Finn have tested negative. Which is great.”

Maginness Sr, who played 131 games for the Hawks from 1988-96 including the 1988 and 1989 premierships, said he was “feeling great” and joked “the garden has never looked better”.

The father went on to say this has been “a very confronting situation” for his family.

He thanked clients and patients who contacted Brighton Clinic to express their concern for his son’s health and family’s wellbeing.

Mr Maginness confirmed no one at the clinic has been exposed to the virus.

Hawthorn has notified up to six AFL clubs of Finn Maginness’ Covid diagnosis after the Hawks’ young gun trained with players from across the league last Friday.

Maginness took part in a cross-team scrimmage session last week with the likes of Collingwood duo Taylor Adams and Brayden Maynard, Essendon star Andrew McGrath, Carlton forward Harry McKay and his twin brother Ben.

Finn Maginness has tested positive for Covid-19.

A Hawthorn spokesperson said none of the players from the other clubs would need to isolate and get tested under government rules, as the session was more than 48 hours before Maginness’s symptoms emerged.

All of his close contacts at the Hawks have returned negative Covid tests, but will still be forced to isolate for the next week.

The Hawks trawled through video footage to help identify who Maginness had been in contact with at the club on Monday before he developed symptoms the next day.

Maginess tested positive on Wednesday, but the club is so far confident the virus had not spread across its playing group.

Club bosses decided to take matters into their own hands before being contacted by health officials.

“He woke up yesterday (Tuesday) with his symptoms and on Monday he was at the club, so we’ve gone through our video footage,” Hawks football boss Rob McCartney said on SEN.

“We’ve got a small number of players and a small number of our football department staff that we’ve been more or less overly cautious with and said ‘at this stage we think it’s in our best interests for them to isolate at the moment.’

“They actually had tests yesterday because we knew Finn wasn’t feeling well yesterday.

“All their results have come back negative, but they’ll continue to isolate for seven days.”

McCartney said Maginness had not been at any ‘big events,’ but instead caught the virus enjoying the same freedoms that Victorians have been afforded since the end of lockdown.

He praised the young midfielder for his perfect response when he first discovered symptoms.

“Yesterday Finn woke feeling a little unwell with bit of a sore throat and a little bit of a headache,” McCartney said.

Essendon star Andrew McGrath was part of a training session with Finn Maginness. Picture: Michael Klein

“He’s the poster boy for then doing exactly what he should have done.

“He isolated himself away from the rest of his family at that time, rang our club doctor in Liam West and then arranged to get a Covid test immediately before returning to his isolation.

“He’s done absolutely everything he should have done, and then today that test has proven to be a positive, so he continues his isolation.

“He’s feeling not 100 per cent but just like a mild cold-like symptoms … and he’s in pretty good spirits.”

The players in isolation will work out from home with their own gym equipment and follow a makeshift program issued by the performance coaches.

McCartney said every Hawthorn player and coach will be fully vaccinated within the next fortnight.

The Demons and their counterparts will experience players getting caught up in a Covid situation next season.

Can AFL season survive a spate of Covid positives?

– Jon Ralph

AFL clubs are awaiting return-to-play protocols for players who test positive to Covid-19 next year after a scare closed down Hawthorn headquarters on Tuesday.

This year Essendon star Nick Hind missed a final in Tasmania because he had visited a Tier 1 site, while Giants star Toby Greene was among a group of players forced to withdraw from a match and isolate after they attended an AAMI Park rugby union Test that was later declared a Covid-19 hotspot.

The AFL will be led by state governments as it formulates a policy for AFL and AFLW players who have caught Covid-19 in the coming season and need to be cleared to return to play.

The Herald Sun revealed on Monday that Hawthorn was the latest club to send players home to quarantine after scares involving Richmond and Western Bulldogs AFLW squads.

The housemate of two Hawthorn players had tested positive to Covid-19.

Players across the competition will miss several days of training across the pre-season as states ease restrictions and case numbers increase, but as Richmond chief executive Brendon Gale said on the weekend it will be common for players to miss games because of Covid.

Clubs are eagerly awaiting the details because states such as Victoria — with up to 1000 cases a day — are likely to have more generous rules around people returning to work and close contacts.

Richmond’s AFLW players needed only to record two negative Covid tests to return to training despite being at the club at the same time as a Covid-positive teammate.

As West Australia and Queensland open up those states they will likely keep in place harsh rules about exposure sites and the need to quarantine for seven or 14 days.

Clubs in those states believe even when the states open up the respective state premiers will be desperate to keep Covid numbers to a bare minimum.

It means players who test positive or are close contacts with Covid-positive people might miss up to 14 days of training and playing.

An AFL spokesperson said the league would continue to be led by the advice of respective health departments.

AFLW will also be expected to come to terms with players getting caught up in a Covid drama.

The contrast between states was highlighted when Essendon’s brilliant defender Hind visited a tier two exposure site the week before the Dons’ final against the Western Bulldogs.

Despite testing negative, he was forced to be isolated for 14 days under Tasmania’s strict Covid policy when he could have played if the game was in Melbourne.

Tasmanian authorities treated tier one and tier two exposure sites a having the same risk and needing 14 days of quarantine.

In American sport even the major codes have differing rules for vaccinated players.

In the NFL an asymptomatic player who tests positive to Covid but is double vaccinated is able to return to play if they record two negative Covid tests 24 hours apart.

In the NBA players who test positive are out for 10 days before they start practising again even if they are double-vaccinated, as Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid has found out in recent days.

At this stage there are no AFL men’s players who have refused to be vaccinated ahead of mandatory vaccination deadlines.

But the AFLW season starting in January will be a test case for return to play protocols as states learn to live with Covid and social distancing orders are relaxed.

Hawthorn’s Waverley Park home has been sent into lockdown. Picture: AAP

Covid scare forces shutdown at Hawks’ HQ

Hawthorn’s Waverley Park headquarters will be closed on Tuesday and players Covid-tested after a housemate of a listed AFL player tested positive on Monday.

The Herald Sun understands staff members who were close contacts have been told to quarantine until they receive a negative Covid test after it emerged on Monday the housemate of the player had tested positive.

The official pre-season has not yet started at Hawthorn but players continue to filter through the club to conduct weights and running sessions.

Rapid antigen tests of AFL and AFLW players entering facilities mean clubs are hoping to lessen the chances of their facilities becoming exposure sites.

But a Hawthorn spokesperson confirmed to the Herald Sun someone had attended Waverley who was a close contact of a Covid-positive person.

It is understood staff on the premises were told to leave on Monday to be tested immediately after the news of the Covid positive close contact was made clear.

The Western Bulldogs AFLW staff and players were forced to quarantine and cancel a Saturday session after a member of the program tested positive after training on Thursday.

Richmond chief executive Brendon Gale told the Herald Sun on Monday the AFL’s testing regime and vaccine mandate would help clubs work through the tail end of the pandemic.

But he said star players would have to miss games with Covid, saying it would be treated like a soft-tissue injury as clubs forged ahead to complete the season.

Richmond’s AFLW players had to return two negative Covid tests after a teammate tested positive to Covid after being at the club while Covid positive.

Hawthorn’s 1-4 year players are due back on November 22 as Sam Mitchell starts his first pre-season after succeeding four-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson.

The Bulldogs have ad to deal with a Covid scare. Picture: Getty Images

Bulldogs in isolation after positive Covid case

—Nick Smart

Western Bulldogs AFLW players and staff have been forced to isolate after a member of the program tested positive to Covid.

Training on Saturday was cancelled after a fully vaccinated individual tested positive after attending training free of symptoms on Thursday.

The individual tested negative from a rapid antigen test on arrival at training on Thursday, but a positive test was returned on Friday.

The individual has not been named by the club, and it’s so far unclear when the AFLW team will be able to resume training.

“(The individual) received a negative result from a rapid antigen test on arrival (at Thursday’s training session),” the Bulldogs said in a statement.

“PCR Covid tests were also administered at the training session for all staff and players, in line with regular AFL testing protocols, with one test returning a positive result on Friday.

“All other members of the AFLW program received negative results from both their rapid antigen test and PCR test.”

The club is waiting to hear how long the members of the program will have to isolate for.

The new AFLW competition will begin on January 6, and all AFLW and AFL players from Victorian clubs must be fully vaccinated by November 26 to continue in the program under Victorian government rules.

Adelaide dual premiership player Deni Varnhagen was this week moved to the Crows’ inactive list after refusing to be vaccinated.

Originally published as AFL news: North Melbourne player tests positive for Covid-19