Not sure what happened to the other thread however we cant disregard what effect COVID will have on the upcoming season. 

Season 2022 is likely to be the biggest disruption in the availability of players. 

The NFL season had Covid ravage sides and force teams to play a substantial number on their reserve list.

Their policy was that positive players had to produce 2 negatives results before being able to resume play. 

If more than 30% of the list is positive then the game was rescheduled otherwise reserve lists were activated.

2022 might be the most interesting season of them all…  

The way things are going we will all have covid before the season actually starts. 

Can't see Covid having much of an impact. 

flash in the pan imo

9 minutes ago, Pipefitter said:

The way things are going we will all have covid before the season actually starts. 

YEP!!!!

What's covid? Never heard of it

Can't have covid if you don't get tested 

Trying for a serious answer, it seems likely that there will be moments in the season when big chunks of the list are sitting out and we will see some bizarre Franken-teams getting named, filling the 23 with whichever fit players we can scrounge up. (Not a complaint, it's gonna be the same for all teams, and with our good depth, we're as well-placed as any to overcome it.)

One thing I'd be doing, as a coaching staff, is trying to use this pre-season to build a bit of flexibility into the players. Try and make it so most of our guys are able to slot into multiple positions, and even if it isn't their best spot, they at least understand the positioning/gameplan/team tactics that a new position requires.

Give May/Lever/Petty/Tomlinson some time up forward in training. Give Brown/Weid/TMac some time down back. Get Rivers/Bowey/Salem training as wingers or pressure forwards. Give ANB/Kozzie/Spargs/Melk some midfield minutes, or defensive duties, etc. etc.

Seems obvious that there will be times when we're gonna need to be flexible, so we should start planning for it now.

26 minutes ago, bananas said:

there will be moments in the season when big chunks of the list are sitting out

I wonder, who knows what will happen by the time the season starts.

Maybe the virus will die down, maybe we won't require the amount of isolation we have now and players can play if healthy.

I guess we carry on as we are, there is some inherent flexibility in this team anyway.

1 hour ago, adonski said:

Can't have covid if you don't get tested 

Are players mandated to have regular testing?

I think you may find that the rules on isolation are very different in two months. We're already down from 14 to 7 days and there is talk of five days soon.

In low risk environments where you are not mixing with the highly vulnerable one has to wonder if quarantine will become a thing of the past.

I closed the last thread because people were getting too political. 

I’ll allow the discussion here to continue as long as we keep it general and not get political/name calling.

Bans without warning for those that abuse. 

If you turn up to play a game and you have a bit of a cold then most likely you will still play. As it stands now what is the difference with covid ?

2 hours ago, rjay said:

I wonder, who knows what will happen by the time the season starts.

Maybe the virus will die down, maybe we won't require the amount of isolation we have now and players can play if healthy.

I guess we carry on as we are, there is some inherent flexibility in this team anyway.

 

1 hour ago, Diamond_Jim said:

I think you may find that the rules on isolation are very different in two months. We're already down from 14 to 7 days and there is talk of five days soon.

In low risk environments where you are not mixing with the highly vulnerable one has to wonder if quarantine will become a thing of the past.

 

4 minutes ago, dl4e said:

If you turn up to play a game and you have a bit of a cold then most likely you will still play. As it stands now what is the difference with covid ?

I think our approach from here on will have everything to do with the hospital numbers, not that it hasn't in the past.

If they keep going up then we will have more restrictions and maybe go back into lockdown as a circuit breaker.

I can't see how no singing is going to have a huge effect...

The speed at which covid is spreading in Victoria - at least 30k cases per day being registered, most likely far more - would have just about everyone exposed within 100 days and then a wind down. A number of our players will have had it by now with more exposed as they resume training.

Players who are double to triple vaxxed and then tested positive will likely have incredible protection over the season. So much so that you’d make a good case not to repeat test and quarantine them.

But we are in the time of variants. Which means you can’t make a bold declaration on the best course of action for covid. 

My guess is we’ll see ongoing testing and quarantining well in to the season and a fair bit of disruption. 

23 hours ago, dl4e said:

If you turn up to play a game and you have a bit of a cold then most likely you will still play. As it stands now what is the difference with covid ?

Well apparently half the Geelong team were bedridden with flu/gastro before the Prelim and they were still allowed to play, why should players miss games because of a little sniffle 🤣

On 1/8/2022 at 2:41 PM, DeeSpencer said:

The speed at which covid is spreading in Victoria - at least 30k cases per day being registered, most likely far more - would have just about everyone exposed within 100 days and then a wind down. A number of our players will have had it by now with more exposed as they resume training.

Players who are double to triple vaxxed and then tested positive will likely have incredible protection over the season. So much so that you’d make a good case not to repeat test and quarantine them.

But we are in the time of variants. Which means you can’t make a bold declaration on the best course of action for covid. 

My guess is we’ll see ongoing testing and quarantining well in to the season and a fair bit of disruption. 

I agree but I think our players might be protecting themselves too much. Staying home etc

I reckon they should all head to T Macs house and give him a hug!

Surprise there has been no talk of potentially extending the list numbers for this year alone. There is no doubt Covid will ravage through AFL clubs meaning that there will be at times up to 10 players unavailable from covid alone. This is even taking into account the extra injured players on top of that.

My covid-19 plan would for the clubs this year alone:

• Extend the list numbers to allow an extra 10 players onto the playing list.
• Invite train on players as early as end of January with a deadline by 1st week of March to have your list completed by then just in time for the season. Also gives potential train on players opportunity to impress for a month, and even play some NAB challenge/practice games
• No draft scenario, more like a SSP design in terms of recruiting. 

My only concern in this though is the salary cap situation. Obviously with cost cuts still hitting clubs this plan may not be feasible.

Edited January 9, 20223 yr by dazzledavey36

 

6.5% of Victorians aged 20-29 have had covid in the last 14 days. And with the shortage of tests that’s probably closer or more than 10% in that age range.

 

Put them in a bubble through to 30 September.

Only allowed to leave home to train, play and travel for interstate games.

I'm sure the players will be up for that.

 

At a population health level it is all about flattening the curve so that everyone who does get serious symptoms can actually get the necessary treatment.

For a football club the key challenge will be similar, in that we definitely want to avoid having large numbers of players all unwell at the same time. Lots of testing, lots of segmenting of groups, precautionary isolation, all that. I expect finals will see some bubble formation as well, though hopefully with a little more family presence.

We may even need to do some load management changes and dietary tweaking - there's a strange phenomenon where people maintaining super-intense training loads can actually have slightly suppressed immune systems because their body is shifting to maximise performance rather than the usual balance and 'risk management' rhythm. A known problem for marathon runners, tour de France and for many sports' pre-season training.

 

 

Please NO POSTS saying “I heard so and so has COVID”

 Unless it is reported in the media or by someone in the media on social media it is not ok to post rumours that you heard from your mum’s cousin’s mate’s aunty.

 

2 hours ago, Demonland said:

Please NO POSTS saying “I heard so and so has COVID”

 Unless it is reported in the media or by someone in the media on social media it is not ok to post rumours that you heard from your mum’s cousin’s mate’s aunty.

 

'cause the media is gospel? Don't you mean until the club makes an offical statement?  

9 hours ago, the fork said:

'cause the media is gospel? Don't you mean until the club makes an offical statement?  

That’s not the point. If media is reporting it then this site isn’t the source whether it’s true or not and I and the offending poster isn’t liable for anything. 

I'm so glad we won the flag last year instead of the year previous. We had no real severe disruptions ie 30 games in 30 days....shorter quarters, postponed matches etc. All 2021 had was sometimes no crowds....different venues and a killer Dees team. Our flag cannot be questioned.