Corona Virus - We're Doomed

You forget this is NZ  and Australia she'll be right. Yesh Right. Stay safe

I won't comment too much on fox, the a league and if the nIx should be there or not. 

I won't even say too much on covid 19 apart from saying that you dont have to be a doctor to know weeks ago this was serious sharke.

If you didn't you were at worst naive or at best, plain dumb.

But a client said to me today in Russia they say "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger"

I don't know if that saying originated in Russia or not, but I think it is quite fitting for the nIx at the moment.

been trying to tell friends and workmates to take things more seriously but just get called paranoid. so be it i do not mind being paranoid if it means my family and i are as safe as we can make ourselves. i told the boys at work last week that NZ would be spiking soon and going by what you are saying it is going to happen  very soon we have already stopped going to friends houses and have asked friends not to come to ours and we only go out for work and spend the rest of the time at home, playstation is my friend and i will be spending a bit of time on there for as long as it takes.

AFL decided to cut 20% of games off their season, players have now coming out saying they want to play the full season. 

You have to wonder how long they can hang on

The City of Sydney has announced it will be cancelling or postponing all non-essential events and in-person meetings, closing gyms and aquatic centres and placing restricted hours on libraries and community centres.

Fox Sports have started laying off staff, including Daniel Garb

My guess is a piece of "number 8 fence wire mentality" isn't going to fix the situation this time. Not a time to panic and be paranoid, but definitely time to be aware of your surroundings and behaviour patterns in a social sense.

one of my sons live in sydney at the start he was one of the people saying it was just the flu but now he is starting to get worried community transmission will do that. more people he knows are catching it and have no idea where they picked it up from .will start happening here at some stage in the near future or maybe it has already started as people have been finding it harder than it should be to get tested, as i write this i just hear on the radio that over 400 people died in one 24 hour period in italy and i know italy has a much bigger population than us but that is a sharkload of mothers, fathers, grandparents and loved ones of all ages and the numbers seem to rise in every 24 hour periods

panicking and being paranoid are two very different beasts,self preservation is going to be hard when you have to work and be out in the community and if you do not look out for yourself and your family no one else is going to. if you are being even a little complacent you are putting yourself and others at risk, just look at what is happening in many other countries around the world and listen to other peoples experiences which are very real and many of them wish they were a little bit more worried at the start in their countries.sorry to keep banging on about the virus but shark is going to get real and then it may be too late for some people in every community around the country.

In Isolation

The FFA has paid for the venue and Phoenix operations manager Shaun Gill was pleased the governing body had agreed to all of their requirements, including individual rooms for every player and enough sports and leisure activities to keep them occupied.

"We're comfortable the facility we've got has everything we need and will still give the players a little bit of flexibility, that they're not just stuck in a room for 24 hours a day," Gill said.

AFL head Gillon McLachlan says starting the season is a balance between protecting health of the players and protecting jobs in the wider football eco system. Watching the cricket at the SCG in front of no crowd was weird, but ive seen Sheffield shield matches with almost no one watching. But contact sports will be surreal. Richmond v the mighty Carlton Blues tonight will have massive tv ratings. 

I’m sure the Nix will enjoy their ‘secret location’. Nice warm, sunny Sydney weather over the next 4-5 days. 

Most players in the league may well be more protected from catching anything in their current environments than if the league was stopped. They won't have to go to the supermarket etc. This is assuming all teams are following a heap of protocols to avoid contact with general public.

Dome and Gilly press conference

Thing is though with no crowds pubs/clubs with limits on numbers how many jobs are they actually protecting apart from their own. I would suggest buggar all.

I hope this link helps someone, anyone, out there...... Covid19

Daniel Garb and the other journalists who’ve been laid off might have a different view. Likewise all the catering, food and beverage, ticketing, marketing, merchandise, events and promotions staff at each club and venue. 

Playing behind closed doors ain't going to help folks employed at the grounds in catering, ticketing etc.

But yes there is no doubt that having some sort of season, will save big job losses and/or pay cuts at the individual clubs.

AFL clubs tend to have large coaching & background staff groups. Some of those will have to be let go for 12 months. All Covid affected businesses will have to cut their variable costs, if there is little to no income.

I think the NRL has already flagged, players will need to take a pay cut even if there is a (behind closed doors) season. 

Exactly my point not sure how you misread that.Not sure at all how its going to save big job losses. Surely there are more jobs around the delivery of match days than  those attached to the teams. Moot point any way AFL players made it clear they were only worried about their pay cheques.

People across the world are very worried about their pay cheques so I don't see why AFL players shouldn't be. I saw one of the high paid NRL players actually say he'd be alright if stopped getting paid, but there are others in his squad that wouldn't be so alright having less or no pay.

Hope the FFA  pay for a charter flight home if this continues. Qantas have cancelled all international flights would imagine Air NZ will follow. 

Really the AFL guys  were worried because they were asked to take a 20% cut. Sorry but many of the sports people are about to find out what many in the real world have  had to face even before this horrible thing appeared. 

20% pay cut is quite a lot, in the real world I know people would try to avoid that. In the real world I know people will keep working if they can through crisis.

Everyone in the private sector should be a bit worried about their jobs now. There is an economic downturn coming, and it won't be pretty.

As an AFL footballer you are a young fit guy, training or playing against other young fit guys, travelling to work in your 4WD, surrounded by club doctors and all many of other health professionals at your work place. For the moment unless you have been a health worker exposed to 'higher' doses of Covid, younger people haven't generally been badly affected by Coronavirus.

Right now that AFL guy is in a far safer environment than the 62 year unfit asthmatic office worker, who takes the train to work every day.

The decisions that likes of FFA, NRL and AFL are making won't be a lot of fun. I'm sure they are getting lots of advice from health professionals, and on the other hand lots of advice from their bean counters. 

Who knows watching your favourite sports team on the telly the next few months, in closed door games maybe one of few joys there is, as this thing hits with a sledgehammer. Locked downs/martial law is coming to a town near you, very soon.

So if a bunch of young men, make the informed decision that they want to keep on playing sport, whilst not putting the general public at any risk - they shouldn't really be criticised for it.

Of course if their respective employers are pressuring them to play, when they are not comfortable with that, well that is another thing altogether. At the moment no real evidence of this.

Very relieved that all of our players have been happy to go on the trip and can train, the facilities we've got sound great. We'll have a squeezed schedule, but they seem comfortable with it as all games in NSW. Will be unusual for us to not have to fly around everywhere all the time!

Gutted we won't get the home playoff games, but winning the comp would make it up to me!

Kia ora koutou, since all of our interaction with the team will be via social media I wanted to start a thread of best accounts to follow to keep up to date with the team. In terms of news obv Piney, Voerman and Rollo. Which players are active on social media? Steve on Insta, who else?

Good points  coocchie but sorry cant agree bet there are many who wish they could shut themselves away in a pretty much sterile environment  and pull down good pay cheques.0Hope Fox share the windfall they are going to have if they have the only live sport

ludicrous that they are there at all. At this rate there is every chance that both major airlines will cease international travel and not out of the question that the border will be closed even to charters. In which case they are stuck in Oz.  

they should pull the plug even if the A League doesn't.

Sorry I don't understand at all the point you are trying to make there.

I expect Fox/FFA have made some good promises re what will be paid to the clubs incl Nix, to finish the season.

I imagine all flights over, accommodation etc etc is coming from Fox's pockets. Interesting that they also took over a full squad plus a few non contracted players, and even Fenton who can't play.

Plus of course they are allowed to train. So looks like Nix have got everything they wanted, for their little Aussie holiday. Will be shark being away from their families for a long stretch, and even sharktier if the whole idea collapses before they play a game and they then return home to 2 more weeks self isolation.

One thing I am almost certain of is that the 2020/2021 A League season if it starts on time, will start behind closed doors. The worst affects of the whole Coronavirus threat are still a few months away from being felt in NZ & Aussie. And it's going to get a whole lot worst.

So there is no point in postponing the rest of this season, either try and finish it in the next few weeks or just cancel it. 

The Israeli Govt are arranging the airlift of 1,000-2,000 young Israeli backpackers out of Lima, Peru where they are stuck. I think they are using military aircraft. 

Yipe is some risk the NZ/Aus border could be closed in the next few weeks/months. But a lot of pressure would go on the NZ Govt to charter home a football team stuck in Oz away from their families. For that matter a lot of pressure to bring/allow home any Kiwi who desperately wanted to return. They can always all go into self isolation and be tested for Covid when they hit NZ terra firma.

Sorry if it needs explanation not going to extend it any longer. Also think your well out of touch if  you think there is going to much support apart from fans for the government to spend money on a charter flight to bring home sports people who have voluntarily put themselves where they are. Yes maybe flights for those caught out by the events but for people who have put themselves where they after its all started I have my doubts there will be much sympathy from the general public.

Don't think Govt would need to spend money on any charter flight, they would just need to allow it to happen, if the border was otherwise closed. I'm sure the FFA or Nix could pay for it.

RH Peter Dutton won't allow them to stay in Oztraylia anyway.

The pressure would be on to reopen that border ASAP.

LOL your not wrong think he is about to start hunting Kiwis who are hoarding

After the last couple of days I would be really surprised if there has still been zero community transmission of covid-19 in NZ - I mean sure we have identified as many people as we could who the infected people had contact with but what about money they have handled, doors they have touched etc. With new cases popping up daily here I have less of an issue with the players being in Australia health wise. However, I also think the season will be cancelled before they get to kick a ball for points which is a risk all the players took.

In regards to the flight back, there will be still be flights. There are too many kiwis in Australia. If they can't get a flight perhaps a container ship would bring them back, trade is not going to stop.

Qantas & Jetstar to stop all international flights.

Might be behind paywall (Sydney Morning Herald)

NRL clubs to blanket test all players for COVID-19

The NRL is about to learn the true ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic with clubs set to blanket test every player in the competition for COVID-19.

In a move that could bring the competition to a grinding halt, the Herald can reveal clubs will be issued with test kits in coming days.

....V'landys has already said one positive test would not necessarily shut down the entire competition, with room in the schedule to play games midweek if necessary.

...But the NRL could have little alternative but to call the competition off if players across multiple teams test positive.

Seems to me there a lot of uninformed people around. Yes, it's 'not just the flu', but it's not 'the zombie apocalypse' either.

This guy at least has an informed opinion,  having been working in this field since before SARS in 2003

Have a read, it may help you think before you post.

Keep calm and carry on.

A lot of rumours and misinformation in the media and on social media.

It seems a major problem will be if an A-League player/coach/staff member gets a positive diagnosis; if this occurs, it likely will shut down the league. In order to avoid this, surely other A-League clubs outside the Nix and Victory (and the Nix and Victory once their 14 day government-imposed isolation finishes) have to also self-quarantine themselves for the duration of the competition? With the rapid rise in infections in Australia, if other A-League players are just out wandering round shops, dropping their kids at schools, picking up coffee, it's only a matter of time before one of them catches Covid. 

Does anyone know if the other clubs are doing any kind of voluntary isolation?

Only citizens and perm-residents allowed to enter from midnight tonight. Guess that means only our Kiwis can come back for now.

NZ closing borders to everyone but NZ citizens - does that mean half of nix squad won’t get back in?