Eddie McGuire explains what would happen if Scott Pendlebury tested positive to coronavirus
So far, no AFL players or staff have tested positive to coronavirus. But what if Collingwood captain Scott Pendlebury did on Monday? Eddie McGuire explains what would happen — and why it’s unlikely.
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A positive coronavirus test for a star AFL player next week would not derail the season restart, but officials are confident that scenario remains highly unlikely.
Collingwood present Eddie McGuire said the strict protocols in place meant the chances of players contracting coronavirus — let alone an outbreak bringing down an entire team — were very slim.
Asked what the AFL would do if Magpies captain Scott Pendlebury tested positive to coronavirus at training next Monday, McGuire said it would be as simple as Pendlebury’s small training group being sent into isolation.
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“If he tested positive on the way to training, it would be the eight players he is training with at the moment that would go into isolation,” McGuire said.
“But what we’re doing is he won’t get on the track without having a negative test and when we get into having full-scale training, contact training, he’ll be tested the day before there is any full-contact training.
“It’s all about prevention from here. Everyone has been tested. Everyone has been negative. They’ve been tested two, maybe three times now since we started the protocol last week. So by the time we get to next week, these guys are going to be tested basically every three days and on top of that being tested for heat and the doctors testing them in every way, shape and form. They’re also well aware of the symptoms so they’re not going to come together and play (if they are sick).”
Speaking on a virtual round table of Australian sport heavyweights hosted by News Corp, McGuire said the AFL was bringing in more protocol officers than originally planned to ensure players and staff complied with strict guidelines to ensure they do not contract the virus.
“You have to address that as the worst-case scenario but what we’re planning to do is planning not to have any players turn up with COVID-19,” McGuire said.
“We don’t need anything to go wrong. No one does. But given all the precautions, the profile of the players, their age, their fitness, the fact that they’ve been tested, the fact that they’re constantly under scrutiny of not only the doctors and medical staff but the club themselves, the protocol officers. The AFL are now putting extra protocol officers in to make sure that the protocols are being observed.
“If there was a full-scale breakout, you’d have to address that at the time. But we are minimalising any opportunity for that to happen.”
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