Simmo, just to get it out of the way first, the Coronavirus. There a number of measures in place by the club today. Could you please take us through it?
Fortunately we got to meet the AFL in the last 24 hours – the chairman, CEO, footy manager and coach. It does change, it’s changed in the last 12 hours, but at the moment we are doing the best we can to isolate our players a little but, elevate hygiene and also not get too hysterical as well. We’re finding that balance to best prepare our players knowing that things could change pretty quickly.
Hopefully everyone out there respects the fact that we’ve had to do this. It’s in the players’ best interest. We want to play. We want a season, we want to hopefully play in front of our crowds, but to do that it might mean unfortunately we can’t connect with our fans and supporters as much as we normally do. I think everyone understands that.
How much of an impact is it having and will it have an impact in terms of what you are doing every day in and around the club?
It’s only been a couple of days since it’s gone to another level. We trained today at Optus, training was good, and we’re still planning and preparing the same way. What happens with travel and all those sort of things and tickets and access, all of those sort of things we are working through. But at the moment we’re just dealing with what’s in front of us.
Is there a blanket ban in terms of fans coming to training? Will it be closed sessions from hereon in?
We probably have to lean that way, as much as we don’t like it. I think it’s probably where people have been and the players do attract attention. Signing autographs and shaking hands, all those things we assume and take for granted at times, we’ve probably got to avoid a bit of that. General interaction, we’re trying to reduce that a little bit, but I’m hoping our members and fans understand.
Do you have any concerns on the field?
We’re going okay. We’ve got a few players available to train tomorrow. It’s a pretty big session tomorrow; we’ll probably punch out a bit of training and play a half of footy at the end of training. Most of our guys, probably 39 guys, will play.
Is it Gov (Jeremy McGovern) and Jack Darling tomorrow that need to prove that they are good to go?
I think Gov has sort of done that now. Jack has been fit, just unable to get any contact. He’ll train fully tomorrow and we’ll manage our way through the rest of the boys. Most of the guys are available for a full hit-out.
Could you provide an update on Josh Kennedy's condition?
He got a bit of a knock to his elbow, so you’ll see him with a brace. Let’s not get too panicky. He’s okay and available to play, but the doc sort of suggested that while he’s not training or playing that he needs to wear this brace. That’ll be around for three, four or five weeks. It’s actually the same brace he had a few years ago. He’s pulled it out of the locker and put it back on. I think it’s same area (where get injured previous) but a different type of injury. I can’t give the specifics, I apologise, but it’s not that severity. I think it’s just a tackle that went wrong. Unfortunately you’ve got to get some minutes into the legs and with this weekend off you need to play those games. He won’t play tomorrow. The plan was always to manage his minutes last week. We did that and he got through the game. Now it’s just a precautionary things.
How about the second ruck situation? Bailey Williams with the Hamstring tightness, is he playing tomorrow?
He’ll train, I don’t know if he’ll play. He looks like he’ll sign off with him hamstring tomorrow and do a few minutes of training. He’ll be in the mix next week. That (second ruck) spot is up for grabs. We’ll have to assess more on what he’s done, not what he is going to do this week if he’s a chance. (Nathan) Vardy has played a couple of games, (Tom) Hickey has had a bit of an interrupted pre-season but he’s played the last two games of WAFL and he’s been pretty good. We’ve got to look at Melbourne what they’re going to bring with Max (Gawn) and we’ll make a decision next week.
