Demonland

You could have a point there. They would at least need to quarantine for a certain period of time to ensure a negative result. There is so much uncertainty regarding the incubation period. Throw in McKenna's negatives, then his irregularity and then his positive.

I actually don't think there is any training scenario that is better or worse. If it gets into the club then there are serious ramifications for that club and potentially another club (if there is gameday contamination) and then potentially the whole league and season. Essendon will be extremely lucky if McKenna is the only infected. Having said that the fact that one player has it and trained with others means they too need to quarantine for 2 weeks just like the rest of society is expected to.

The current plan seems to be attempting to make the situation fair for Essendon and therefore (unintentionally) making it unfair for us. Why should we be disadvantaged by their mistake.

In fact here are the stats for 2020. I've kindly asked for stats for 2018 and 2019. Will report back if I get an answer.

Do we know if those players (and presumably some staff [footy and admin]) who came into contact with McKenna are isolating right now? What about the people that the other players in the group of 8 subsequently were in contact with? Are they isolating? And the people they came into contact with? Flow on effect is huge.

I guess it depends on the results (and in turn the accuracy) of the tests this close to the contact period. The AFL will have egg on their face if one of the 8 play and then are later diagnosed as positive. Can you imagine 2 of the Big 4 are sidelined for a fortnight?

Agreed. Can you imagine if this weeks game had gone ahead with an infectious McKenna playing? Our whole team would have to have quarantined for 2 weeks or more derailing our year and plunging us further into financial choas.

Essendon cannot complain about playing without their backline. Essendon face the prospect of playing AFL matches with a severely weakened team due to coronavirus, but their situation is not likely to be as dramatic as that faced by FC Rostov in the Russian Premier League last weekend. Six Rostov players tested positive to COVID-19 as the league restarted following a coronavirus-imposed shutdown, meaning the entire senior team – including reserves and back-up players – had to quarantine. Forty-two players were ruled out, in all. With Rostov due to play Sochi,league officials offered to cancel the game. But Sochi – battling relegation – refused, insisting that Rostov, who were in fourth place, fulfil the fixture. Rostov, a port city in the River Don, had little option but to field their under-17 youth team – none of whom were professionals. The youngsters stunned Russian fans by taking the lead in the first minute with a goal from Roman Romanov – a strike, it might be said, which threatened to have a revolutionary impact. But their joy was short-lived as Sochi brutally imposed normality on proceedings, eventually going on to win 10-1 – a win that will help their battle against relegation no end.

I'm not calling for the 4 points as a freebie. I just think it is unfair for us to penalised with shorter breaks between games which potentially will impact us across 3 (or more) matches. Match prior to the rescheduled Essendon match, the rescheduled Essendon match and the match (even matches) after the rescheduled Essendon match. We'll have to adjust loads during matches and training. How can that not have an impact on us when other teams won't have that same issue. I don't care about the impact on Essendon as they are the ones who are responsible. I'm not even proposing to play a depleted Essendon this week or mid week as a further Freebie (we all know how we fair against depleted Essendon teams). If a team can't field a team then they forfeit. Case closed.

West Coast's hub performance is a reflection on them and has nothing to do with us. I was disappointed with our performance in Perth but conceded that the news of the season postponement and possible cancellation could have had an impact. Wasn't there also a story at the time that our accommodation reeked of cleaning solution making the players nauseous and giving some headaches. Not ideal preparation. The Eagles situation in QLD is vastly different in circumstance than our situation in Perth. We'll never know but it would be interesting to see how the Eagles would have gone playing us in Melbourne in Round 1 given the same scenario.

Should the Dees still be training in positional line groups given the situation that has arisen at Essendon where they are potentially going to be playing without their starting backline? https://twitter.com/superfooty/status/1274876030621122560?s=20 Melbourne will not reconfigure its position-based training groups despite the risk a COVID-19 infection could wipe out an entire line, a fear which has gripped Essendon. Demons football boss Josh Mahoney has instead prioritised keeping the virus out of his club by ensuring all players and staff follow the AFL’s strict protocols. “We went position as well (in our groups),” Mahoney said. “We felt when you went to mix up the groups it was really important they trained together as well. So that was our decision, based on training together. “It’s always the balance you’re taking when you’re setting up the protocols. In the end the No. 1 priority is not to have COVID-19 come into your facility.” AFL training groups are made up of up to nine players. The Demons lumped on-ballers Max Gawn, Jack Viney, Angus Brayshaw, Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver into one star-studded training group.

I'd assume that any discussions will be done in private but I'd also assume that we don't want to rock any boats as we need the AFL's assistance financially during this time. Rock and a hard place stuff. Eddie and Collingwood are in a much different position to us in terms of platform, financials and Big 4 status. They can do as they please.

Let's bend over backwards to accommodate the Bombers.

If the AFL shuffle things around to accomodate Essendon in any way, shape or form and shaft us I'll lose my [censored]. Who am I kidding of course that will happen.

This story keeps looking worse for Essendon. Surely we get the points.

Will the Dees move their training back to Gosch's?

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Fixed