Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has sent a scare through the camp just a week out from the AFL grand final, after being forced into isolation with an illness.
Goodwin, along with assistant coach Adem Yze, missed the Demons’ training session this morning after waking up with gastro symptoms.
Their decision to isolate is being described as a precaution, with no other members of the squad displaying symptoms.
“He’s woken up a little bit crook – both him and Ooz (Yze),” said assistant coach Troy Chaplin.
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“They’ll be fine come tomorrow but the club didn’t want to take any risk. The docs said to stay back.
“Given the stakes at hand, it’s important to make sure we don’t have something that sweeps through the whole club.
“It’s a pretty light session today so all the other coaches will get a few other staff to help us out.”
The Demons will have played just one game in 28 days by the time of next weekend’s grand final, and had been expected to have a solid hit out tomorrow.
Just a week ago six members of the Geelong side were struck down by illness on the eve of the preliminary final against Melbourne.
But Chaplin says they haven’t looked into how the Demons’ pair caught the virus.
“Not really, it’s just bobbed up. All the other boys are OK at the moment so we’ll just play it by ear and hopefully we’ve got on top of it pretty early,” Chaplin said.
“We’re still eight days out from the grand final and if it’s going to happen, you’d rather it happen now. At the moment it’s just those two guys and as of eight o’clock this morning they just went straight back to their room and there was no cross-contamination between coaches or players.
“Because we’re out of lockdown and doing our own thing I don’t think it’s got anything to do with where we’re staying. Those boys were out yesterday. It’s unfortunate, it’s one that’s not high risk at the moment, the club is just taking ever precaution possible.”
Melbourne will face the Western Bulldogs in next week’s grand final, the first time the Demons have played in the decider in 21 years, as they seek their first premiership since 1964.
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