Sydney coaches in COVID victory

THREE Sydney Swans assistant coaches who were set to work remotely in Saturday night’s clash with the Demons have arrived in Melbourne after receiving clearance to fly.

Don Pyke, Dean Cox and Jarrad McVeigh on Monday afternoon attended Azure Café, which was previously considered a tier one exposure site but it’s since been reclassified to tier two.

The Victorian Government mirrored the NSW Government’s classification, paving the way for the three assistants to board a flight to Melbourne on Friday afternoon.

Visitors with exposure to a tier two site must undergo a coronavirus test and isolate until they record a negative result.

Pyke, Cox and McVeigh, as with all Swans players and staff, returned negative test results on Thursday after being tested and going into isolation the previous day.

They underwent another COVID-19 test after landing in Melbourne and will again isolate until they receive notification of another negative result, despite that not being an official requirement.

The resolution follows a whirlwind few days for the Swans and AFL, in particular, with two Saturday match times tweaked to enable Essendon to fly in and out of Sydney for its clash with the Giants.

As of Friday morning, Swans chief executive Tom Harley and head of football Charlie Gardiner were still working through the specifics of how Pyke, Cox and McVeigh could be involved from Sydney.

Gardiner’s been in close contact with AFL general manager of football operations Steve Hocking, but also Giants football boss Jason McCartney, given they used technology for absent football staff on game day last year.

GWS used Zoom to bring former assistant Brad Miller and head of analysis Jamie Ryan into the coaches’ box and rooms after they left the club’s quarantine hub to return to Sydney. The Swans were going to be left with a skeleton staff around John Longmire of Ben Mathews and Jeremy Laidler, but were looking at options to involve staff who made the trip.