AFL clubs back to segregated training as Bombers wait on tests
Anxiously awaiting results of COVID-19 tests on Essendon players, the AFL has tightened training and social guidelines in a risk-reducing move.
Anxiously awaiting results of COVID-19 tests on Essendon players, the AFL has tightened training and social guidelines in a risk-reducing move.
Instead of releasing the next phase of the fixture on Monday as hoped, the league was instead working on a fix for protocols that it hoped would avert another prolonged interruption to the troubled 2020 season.
The whole Essendon side, along with relevant officials, underwent coronavirus testing on Monday after Bombers star Conor McKenna recorded a positive on Saturday.
That forced Sunday’s game between Essendon and Melbourne to be postponed.
There are also significant concerns about the impact it will have on Saturday night’s match against Carlton and potentially a clash against Collingwood a week later if further players test positive or are forced to quarantine for a fortnight.
The AFL has stated those matches will proceed as long as Essendon are able to field 22 players and four emergencies.
Essendon chief executive Xavier Campbell is hoping for a “common sense” approach should the club receive a bad test result on Tuesday, amid confidence players who trained alongside McKenna in a weights session will be cleared by health officials.
With the AFL determined to be as flexible as possible to ensure the 2020 season does get completed, the Essendon boss believes consideration could be given to playing those games later in the year.
The positive test recorded by McKenna, who remains asymptomatic, forced an immediate tightening of restrictions on and off the field.
Clubs have now been banned from holding a full-contact training session involving entire squads for the next four weeks.
Contact will instead be restricted to between groups of up to nine players. Clubs can train as a whole in terms of ball movement provided there is no contact.
Investigations are continuing into how McKenna, who had visited an open home late last week, contracted the virus.
As a result, players and football staff are now banned from visiting other houses or having guests in their houses for 48 hours before a match.
Every player is tested for COVID-19 the day before a game.
AFL general counsel Andrew Dillon said the events of the weekend were a reminder coronavirus remained a major challenge for the wider community.
“The season is unlike any other.
“We must continue to be flexible and agile in our decision-making as we navigate through the remaining games,” he said.
But with the prospect of introducing a hub of clubs based in Western Australia being investigated, the league has received another good incentive to take teams and games west.
WA Premier Mark McGowan confirmed from Saturday up to 30,000 fans would be able to attend matches at Optus Stadium should they be scheduled there. By Round 7, a further easing of restrictions will allow a capacity of 60,000 fans to attend matches at the ground.
West Coast chief executive Trevor Nisbett said a possible model would see two or three clubs from other states travel to Perth, play each other while in quarantine and then the Dockers and Eagles once they had cleared the health hurdles.
“Obviously there are precautions that will need to be taken and everyone is going to have to follow strict protocols, but it is possible,” Nisbett told the ABC in Perth.
“It may mean that the season pushes out a bit further than the AFL originally wanted, but that is part and parcel to what we’ll have to do in this season which is totally disrupted.”
The problem for the AFL and Victorian clubs in the short-term is the suspicion other governments are eyeing the state given a surge in active coronavirus cases.
It comes as Melbourne Storm were forced to relocate an NRL game against New Zealand Warriors on Friday night from AAMI Park to Sydney.
Western Bulldogs and Collingwood are due to head to Sydney for matches against the Swans and the Giants on Thursday and Friday night.
Sydney and GWS host Round 5 matches against Melbourne and Hawthorn on Sunday, July 5. A game between Richmond and the Eagles on the Gold Coast on July 2 is also in doubt.
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