Swans, GWS ignore NSW plea to flick the Vics

The AFL will make a mockery of NSW Premier’s pleas not to interact with Victorians, when two Melbourne teams fly into Sydney from Thursday.

Marcus Bontempelli, centre, and his Bulldogs teammates will travel to the SCG on Thursday night to play the Swans Picture: Getty Images

The AFL will make a mockery of NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s pleas not to interact with Victorians, when two Melbourne teams fly into Sydney from Thursday.

Sydney Swans and GWS Giants players are putting all their faith in the AFL’s strict biosecurity protocols as they prepare to play football against two teams full of Melbourne citizens that the state government has instructed they should avoid at all costs.

Berejiklian was making no apologies for her hard-line stance after Victoria recorded 17 new COVID-19 cases, as she declared all organisations should be ceasing all contact with Melburnians.

“I call on all organisations not to interact with citizens from Melbourne at this stage,” said the Premier.

“I would definitely encourage organisations to consider who to allow on their premises and where they’re coming from.”

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The AFL is confident they’re an exception to Berejiklian’s position given footballers are living under stricter guidelines than regular citizens. Players are being tested at least twice a week and they have regulations on how much contact they can have with the outside world.

However, Essendon star Conor McKenna has tested positive — although he returned a negative test on Tuesday — and the Melbourne Storm NRL club has already been forced to relocate to Sydney for the foreseeable future. If the situation continues to worsen in Melbourne the AFL may have no choice but to move Victorian clubs into interstate hubs.

Sydney Swans co-captain Josh Kennedy said while the club respected the government’s advice, players had full faith that playing the Bulldogs on Thursday night at the SCG was safe.

“You certainly respect what’s been said but you also trust that the AFL have put in place so many protocols and testing and you trust they’re doing everything to be able to make it a safe environment,” Kennedy told The Australian.

Swans coach John Longmire said the club was at the mercy of AFL and government advice, and at this point, the Thursday match and GWS’s assignment against Collingwood on Friday night have the green light to go ahead.

“All we can do is take the advice of health professionals and the AFL,” he said. “The AFL give us all the guidance. We have very strict protocols and are abiding by those protocols … and if they change, we change with it and that’s all we can go by at the moment.”

The AFL has been sent into a spin this week after McKenna tested positive to COVID-19, and Longmire has instructed players to be flexible to requirements changing at the last moment.

“It’s about the influence and control,” Longmire said.

“If you can’t control things there’s no point worrying about it too much.”

The Daily Telegraph