BOMBERS IMPLODING

Key players might miss games as club rocked by COVID-19 case

ESSENDON could be forced to play Carlton and Collingwood without a cluster of their best players as the AFL zeroes in on Conor McKenna’s staggering decision to attend an open house inspection last week.

McKenna, 24, completed a full-scale training session on Friday shortly before testing positive for COVID-19 in a finding that has rocked the AFL.

It is believed McKenna, who is asymptomatic, had trained in a small group with fellow defenders Adam Saad, Cale Hooker, Michael Hurley, Matt Guelfi, Jordan Ridley and Mason Redman.

The AFL had encouraged clubs not to stack their training groups with players from the same line.

But the AFL will tell Essendon they need to play next week even if their starting back six are not available while in quarantine.

Players in McKenna’s training group are the players considered at greatest risk of being declared “close contacts” by DHHS, although the training footage will be crucial.

Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services was poring over footage of that session to determine how many “close contacts” of McKenna must quarantine for 14 days.

The AFL and DHHS are tracing McKenna’s every move because they want to know where he contracted the virus from.

McKenna’s attendance at an open house inspection would be the subject of a probe.

AFL legal counsel Andrew Dillon told 3AW that if a club had 25 eligible players it would play the following week even if a team’s stars had been excluded in quarantine.

He said the government definition of “close contact” was specific and would be worked through to decide which Essendon players would have to remain in quarantine for 14 days.

“There is a definition for close contact and it’s if you are face-to-face for more than 15 minutes or confined space for more than two hours,” Dillon said.

“The AFL rules are pretty clear (on playing on despite players in quarantine). As long as we have 22 players and a couple of emergencies you are able to have a team.”

DHHS wants to know whether it will lead to a cluster of untraced Victorian cases while the AFL is set to demand answers to why he breached the league’s strict player protocols.

McKenna’s teammate, Brandon Zerk-Thatcher, was suspended for Round 2 for a minor breach he self-reported.

“DHHS advice will be to quarantine all of those identified close contacts (of McKenna) for two weeks from the time of exposure,” Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said.