Richmond stars reveal COVID-19 close call in Adelaide hotel during 2020 season

Two Richmond stars say sharing a hotel with homeless people last season led to fears of a COVID quarantine breach – but that it never went public.

Jack Riewoldt celebrates after Richmond won the premiership.

Richmond players feared they had been exposed to another major COVID-19 protocol breach in August last year, claiming their Adelaide hotel took in some homeless people during the team’s stay.

In a footy panel show published on YouTube, premiership stars Dylan Grimes and Jack Riewoldt detailed how their hotel lobby was “filled with homeless people” only hours before their Round 11 21-point loss to Port Adelaide last season.

All clubs faced strict quarantine rules to avoid contact with the general public, leaving the Tigers’ players surprised to see the other guests at close proximity in their team hotel.

But the AFL on Sunday said it was aware of the matter and did not believe there was any breach of its quarantine rules.

The Tigers weren’t in lockdown at the time and were allowed some limited involvement with the public.

The league brought in extra security to assist the Tigers as they were sharing the hotel with members of the general public.

Any breach could have forced Richmond into 14 days of hard quarantine and rocked their premiership campaign a month before finals.

The incident happened on August 8, about two weeks after Brooke Cotchin, the wife of Richmond captain Trent Cotchin, broke AFL rules when she visited a Gold Coast beauty salon and put an image on Instagram.

Richmond received a second strike in September when players Sydney Stack and Callum Coleman-Jones left their hub to have a night out on the Gold Coast ending in a fight out the front of a kebab shop.

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Jack Riewoldt celebrates after Richmond won the 2020 premiership.

Grimes described the situation in their Adelaide hotel as “bizarre” and suggested the AFL had tried to cover up the incident.

The Tigers had just flown into Adelaide off a four-day break for the game against the Power.

“It (hotel) felt like a hospital which had been abandoned. It was really old and it was like, ‘This is weird’,” Grimes said.

“We came down from a meeting or a team walk or something and the hotel lobby was filled with homeless people.

“In Adelaide, if it gets above or below a certain temperature the hotel opens up as a homeless shelter.

“I don’t know how this never got out and the AFL have done an amazing job of covering this up (because) at this stage we were wearing masks coming out of the airport, to the airport, to the bus.

“We weren’t allowed to come into contact with anyone, but next thing you know we were crammed like sardines into a lift.

“We were like ‘How does this happen?’.

“We were so sterile for so long and now we are staying in a homeless shelter right before a game.”

Dylan Grimes (left) played a key role in Richmond’s premiership campaign.

An AFL spokesman on Sunday said the league brought in extra security staff at the hotel to assist the team and club staff.

It is understood the Richmond players were spread across several floors of the hotel for the brief stay.

The league did not find evidence of any rule breaches.

“The AFL moved and accommodated hundreds of players and officials across the country throughout season 2020,” the spokesman said.

“When any issues arose we acted accordingly, and in this particular instance having members of the general public staying in the same hotel, we put on extra security and hotel staff to ensure the protocols were abided by.

“All players had the necessary protocols and information for when engaging with the general public across the year.”

Grimes said he thought the situation would become a big issue at the time given the importance placed on the AFL’s quarantine rules and the players’ and staff health and safety.

Players left their families in some cases to spend up to four months in hubs in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia to help save the season as Richmond overcame two quarantine breaches to win an extraordinary premiership.

“We had just been done for the Brooke Cotchin thing, there was something else, and they (AFL) were all over us,” Grimes said.

“I was like ‘The AFL are going to cop it for this’. Sit back and wait and watch the media roll in (because) Richmond was staying in a homeless shelter but crickets, (there was) nothing (about it).”

Originally published as Richmond stars reveal COVID-19 close call in Adelaide hotel during 2020 season