Ban on contact has AFL Cairns coach worried
AFL Cairns clubs have been given a start date for the 2020 season, but coaches face a tough task in getting their squads ready for battle without any contact training.
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AFL Cairns clubs have been given a start date for the 2020 season, but coaches face a tough task in getting their squads ready for battle without any contact training.
While clubs are permitted to conduct training with up to 60 people – in three groups of 20 – at the same venue, contact training remains banned, at this stage, until July 10.
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With the AFL Cairns season set to start on the same date, although a fixture has not been released yet, Manunda Hawks coach Brad Sinclair said it would be almost impossible to get players game-ready for the upcoming season.
“It gives us about four to five weeks to get the players ready, in a style where we can’t even train for football,” he said.
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“We can’t have contact, we’ve still got to have 1.5m of distancing – so to get these guys prepared for combat is going to be really difficult.
“I’ll get them fit for golf or tennis under these restrictions, but for football, you’re asking too much to get them ready in one month.
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“My concern is that I can’t train them for the specific sport we’re going into, and then you get injuries.
“We’re exposing these guys to real chances of injury, and then they’re off work.
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“Now a lot of these guys have lost their jobs anyway, and are looking for new work.
“I really don’t know if the player welfare has been looked into strongly enough.
“We all love our footy and we all want to play, but at what cost?”
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South Cairns Cutters coach John Tootell said he was banking on restrictions to ease further before the season started.
“If you look at the start date we’ve been given, we’ve got plenty of time to get some base fitness,” he said.
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“There’s no contact at the moment, but hopefully, with some changes on the way, we can start doing some contact in the next few weeks, before we start playing.”
AFL Cairns will meet with club presidents and coaches next Wednesday.
Originally published as Ban on contact has AFL Cairns coach worried