Richmond has confirmed multiple senior players won’t enter their interstate hub as Victorian clubs flee the state in order to keep the season going.
Tigers footy boss Neil Balme told 3AW they’ll be without “a couple” of older players as well as some younger players who probably wouldn’t be selected if they went anyway.
“There’s a couple (of players) I think that won’t go,” he said on Sunday.
“We’ll probably make a decision on some of our younger guys…there’s a few of our guys that are unlikely to get a game and they’ll be almost wasting their time going up.
“We think we’ll leave them back here with some coaches so they can get genuine one on one improvement. When we’re on the Gold Coast, we’ll be focusing on winning game after game rather than on development.”
While it’s not known exactly who won’t go yet, Herald Sun journalist Jon Ralph told Fox Footy on Sunday afternoon Bachar Houli and Shane Edwards were either awaiting the births of babies, or just welcomed babies.
Victoria recorded 108 cases of COVID-19 on Saturday with social housing blocks in North Melbourne and Flemington forced into a tight lockdown, including a strong police presence.
The 10 Victorian clubs have begun making their way to either New South Wales or Queensland, where they’re set to spend five weeks before coming back home.
When Victoria announced a number of postcodes would be locked down, majority of clubs were forced to temporarily move players out of the hotspots so they could head interstate without needing to isolate for 14 days.
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Last week, Richmond captain Trent Cotchin and Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge flagged the possibility of some players avoiding the hubs due to family circumstances.
Speaking to AFL Nation, Dogs skipper Easton Wood confirmed he would take his family to the Gold Coast hub, with the club planning to fly out on Monday.
“I’m going to take my wife and my daughter along up there with us and a few of the boys are bringing their family as well, he said.
“There’ll be challenges there’s no doubt about that but I prefer to look at the opportunities and it can’t hurt getting some warm weather as well.“
Collingwood was one of the first clubs to leave, with the Pies posting photos on social media of the squad preparing to board a bus to the airport on Sunday morning.
North Melbourne is scheduled to fly out with Essendon on Monday, with the two teams to face off in Round 6.
The Roos are poised to have one of the largest groups heading into a Queensland hub.
Richmond and Melbourne play each other at the MCG on Sunday afternoon before leaving the state, while Hawthorn is already in New South Wales.
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