Conor McKenna will be out for at least two weeks after testing positive to Covid-19. And he is set to be joined by five other players after contact tracing was completed.
The five players were listed as 'close contacts' of the Irishman who attended five open-house inspections before testing positive.
The identity of those players is set to be released Tuesday, with the Herald Sun reporting the group includes first choice players and also players outside McKennaโs backline group.
The AFL are fully expecting Essendon's Saturday night clash with Carlton to go ahead as the Bombers are capable of fielding a full team plus emergencies.
While McKenna attended the open-house inspections, it is believed he may be able to argue those violations down as there is a grey area over players moving houses.
Full contact training has been banned by the AFL since, however any pausing of the season is unlikely. St Kilda coach Brett Ratten says that the season must go on.
โItโs a disadvantage for Essendon, but we canโt stop the games, need to keep them going,โ he told Fox Footy.
โFor the Bombers it might not be perfect, but they might find themselves one, two, or three players out of that game and that might help them in the future.โ
Speaking on Channel 9โsย Footy Classified, Caroline Wilson spoke about the ramifications of the positive test.
โI can tell you the players who were in contact and found to have been in close contact with Conor McKenna last Friday and before will be named early in the morning (Tuesday),โ Wilson toldย Footy Classified. โI canโt tell you who they are, but I can tell you the Essendon-Carlton game will go ahead.
โThe situation, I gather, is manageable. There would probably be, I would say, a handful of players โ whether thatโs three, four or five, I canโt tell you exactly โ will be forced to go into quarantine alongside Conor McKenna.
โIt wonโt be the entire back six. I wish I could tell you who those players are, but those names are being kept tightly under wraps. But we will know early (Tuesday) who they are.โ
The AFL are still yet to decide on a punishment for McKenna.
