By Roy Ward
The vision of Melbourne Stars duo Marcus Stoinis and Joe Burns shivering by themselves as they played a Big Bash game after testing positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday night made for unusual viewing for Australians.
However, while experts say the dramatic shift from the way Australian sports and leagues dealt with positive COVID-19 cases in previous seasons reflects the change in Australian attitudes, it’s unlikely the winter codes will be allowing players to run out while sick in 2023.
Joe Burns and Marcus Stoinis had a miserable night after testing positive to COVIDCredit:Getty Images
Competitions such as the AFL and NRL are preparing to deal with COVID-19 in 2023 without state-based health orders making it compulsory for positive cases to isolate.
The AFL said on Wednesday that club doctors would be tasked with treating players who test positive but the expectation is any positive players would be immediately sent home just as players with colds or gastro cases are treated.
“The health and safety of players, officials, fans, and the wider community is paramount,” the AFL said in a statement.
“Therefore, the AFL will continue to closely monitor the situation with respect to COVID-19 and act in accordance with advice from government and medical experts. As a baseline principle, all players and club staff must comply with the requirements, rules, and instructions of the relevant authority (being the applicable government authority or body) in their state, and in any state to which they travel during their 2023 season.
Gurinder Sandhu (20 not out and 2-23) steered the Thunder to victory in a low-scoring thrillerCredit:Getty Images
“If an individual tests positive to COVID-19, and in the absence of mandatory isolation directed by relevant authorities, the club doctor is responsible for monitoring the individual’s symptoms and subsequent recovery from COVID-19.
“The club doctor is also responsible for managing the individual’s return to the AFL or AFLW program in an appropriate manner on a case-by-case basis (as is the process for other illnesses).
“For the avoidance of doubt, the baseline assumption is that when an individual tests positive for COVID-19, they should remain absent from the club for at least as long as it takes to become asymptomatic in their recovery, but this will be managed by the club doctor.”
The NRL is unlikely to implement any testing regime and will leave it to clubs to handle positive players given isolation periods have been scrapped, at present, around the country.
Clubs and club doctors will likely be more cautious in how they treat players who have COVID-19 considering they play a contact sport.
Stoinis and Burns returned positive tests on game day, but used a separate change room and stayed apart from other players as much as possible in their team’s loss to Sydney Thunder in Canberra.
The Big Bash has steps in place to keep positive players separate from others for as much of each match as possible, including having a third dressing room available for positive players, separate seating during their batting innings and the use of a separate car to transport them to and from the ground.
Burns injured his hamstring and had to retire hurt on Tuesday night, while Stoinis was out for a golden duck and didn’t bowl.
“It’s something we’re getting used to now, it’s happened already quite a bit this summer through the World Cup,” Stars captain Adam Zampa said post game.
“We don’t even speak about it, it’s just a quick message saying these guys are positive and stay away.
“Burnsy’s had a tough day with the hamstring and that as well, he’ll be pretty flat I think and the same with ‘Stoin’, I don’t think he was quite up for it with the ball and he would have been quite handy.”
Professor of Biostatistics at the University of South Australia Adrian Esterman told The Age and Sydney Morning Herald that the sight of athletes playing after testing positive wouldn’t confuse the public.
“Times have changed now,” Esterman said.
“By and large when you go about, very few people are wearing face masks now, even in healthcare settings, people aren’t wearing masks, which is outrageous in my view.
“People really don’t care any more, public opinion has changed, so this won’t do anything untoward to public messaging.
“There are so many cases out there, they are right at the peak of another wave and there are thousands and thousands of infectious cases out there. So who is it going to harm if these players play while infectious?”
Esterman said the major concern should be what impact playing while sick with COVID-19 had on the athletes.
Chair of epidemiology at Deakin University, Professor Catherine Bennett, said maintaining testing and knowing the players were infectious was much better than not knowing if any players were infectious within a team.
Bennett said codes such as the AFL or NRL had less chance of spreading the virus as games were outdoors, but the contact situations, team huddles and another close in moments would prove a concern.
“You want them to be asymptomatic but it might not be good for the players to be playing while they feel under the weather,” Bennett said.
“The best recovery tactic early in a COVID infection is rest.
“In outdoor sports, even contact sports, you are unlikely to have the sort of contact to transmit the virus, although it is possible if you are in a scrum or something like that. But that is quite different compared to a sport like cricket where you spent time with no one within metres of you.
The AFL and NRL will leave the decision on COVID-positive players up to club doctors.Credit:Getty Images
“It will be interesting if they are still testing, there will always be risk there are people on ground or in the change room who are positive and don’t know, so it is good to be mindful of that risk.”
Melbourne United coach Dean Vickerman said he still wouldn’t be comfortable if the NBL allowed players to play with COVID-19.
“When you think about the impact it has had on our club over the journey of COVID-19, being one of the first teams to contract it and go through that process – I’m not comfortable with opposition players or our players playing with COVID-19 at this time,” Vickerman said on Wednesday.
“But I’m sure that, in time, when it hopefully becomes just like a cold and you are not going to pass it on to anyone, if it gets to that point, then I will be comfortable.”
With Adam Pengilly and AAP
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