Covid chaos strikes West Coast as virus hits AT LEAST 12 players and Eagles ‘cancel flight to Melbourne’ – but team will be FORCED to play Kangaroos
- The Covid crisis at the West Coast Eagles has exploded
- At least 12 players have been ruled out and their flight to Melbourne ‘cancelled’
- The club will be forced to play their round two fixture against North Melbourne
- Players from the WAFL reserve grade will have to fill the huge holes in the squad
The West Coast Eagles will be forced to play their AFL match against North Melbourne at Marvel Stadium on Sunday despite 12 players being wiped out of the fixture because of Covid protocols.
There were always concerns that Western Australian sides might struggle with the virus in 2022 and now the Eagles have had their worst fears realised after just one round of AFL action.
Josh Kennedy, Tom Barrass, Jack Redden, Zac Langdon and Isiah Winder were already confirmed outs when teams were announced on Thursday and defender Josh Rotham was ruled out on Friday after returning a positive Covid test.
Josh Kennedy will be a huge loss for the Eagles, who are battling to put together a squad to play the North Melbourne Kangaroos on Sunday
Now another four players that the club has not yet named will also be barred from getting on the plane to Melbourne.
They have all either returned positive tests or been ruled to be close contacts of confirmed Covid cases.
The Eagles will now have to try and compete with a bits and pieces roster topped up with WAFL footballers.
Eagles coach Adam Simpson confirmed that many of the top-up players were not only making their AFL debut, but had never even trained with the club.
‘At the moment we’ve got 17 or 18 AFL players available. Sorry I can’t give you clarity, but I don’t have clarity at the moment,’ Simpson said.
It comes as Covid surges in Western Australia with WA Health reporting a total of 8,133 new cases as of 8pm on Thursday night. There are currently 45,306 active cases in Western Australia.
Zac Langdon of the Eagles celebrates a goal during the round one match against the Gold Coast Suns. He has been ruled out of round two because of Covid protocols.
As it became apparent infection was spreading throughout the club, all players and staff were tested on Thursday.
The club’s Virgin charter flight to Melbourne was scheduled to depart on Friday but has since been cancelled and rescheduled to Saturday as the team assesses who can and can’t make the trip.
A crisis meeting was held for West Coast staff early on Friday morning, and the Eagles are searching for WAFL players from their Covid contingency list to put together the required 23 players for Sunday’s game.
In addition, some of the WAFL top-ups are also out due to Covid, which is deepening the crisis.
The top-ups from Perth include WAFL players Corey Byrne and Brayden Ainsworth, as well as Claremont product turned WAFL Eagle Logan Young – all pending negative Covid test results.
The Eagles delisted Ainsworth late last year after he played 14 AFL games between 2018 and 2021.
It isn’t all good news for Fremantle Dockers, either. They have David Mundy and Brennan Cox in isolation at the moment and Joel Hamling did not attend training at Cockburn on Friday.
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