Where’s the AFLPA on this?
Who dat?
Stan Darsh? 
Heh heh, … srs though, … who is Marsh? 
Rodney?
SRS answer - Paul Marsh CEO of AFLPA
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Except that there is no evidence that they have an antibody tests that works 6 days after infection. This is saga worthy.
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Stitch up here we come.
Paul Marsh, one of Rod’s sons
A more sympathetic article
Inside story behind Essendon star Conor McKenna’s COVID-19 week from hell
Conor McKenna has spent five of the past 12 weeks trapped in quarantine. He is embarrassed about everything that has happened and his club is rallying around him. This is the inside story of the star Irishman’s week from hell.
Sam Landsberger , Herald Sun
June 26, 2020 5:19pm
Conor McKenna jumped into his Holden Commodore with a beaming smile.
It was last Saturday morning and McKenna, 24, believed he was 20 minutes from training and one sleep from playing his first AFL game in 290 days.
Then, his phone rang. On the line was Essendon club doctor Brendan de Morton, and the conversation went something like this.
“Conor, did you take your coronavirus test after training yesterday?”
“I sure did.”
“Well, the result is ‘pending’ – it’s saying it’s not complete …”
De Morton asked Dorevitch Pathology to investigate, and when McKenna arrived at Tullamarine he was excluded from the captain’s run and told to observe strict social distancing.
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It’s been a horror week for Conor McKenna. Picture: Michael Klein
“The alarm bells weren’t ringing too loudly. It wasn’t a positive test at that stage,” coach John Worsfold said.
But Dorevitch called back 20 minutes later to say McKenna’s test was a “low-level irregularity”. He was re-tested and sent home to isolate, alarm bells activated.
Bombers football boss Dan Richardson and COVID-19 compliance officer Lisa Lawry circulated a Microsoft teams video link to players and staff.
It was now 3.55pm and McKenna’s subsequent test had come back positive. The AFL postponed Sunday’s game against Melbourne and the Bombers’ bubble was ordered to self-isolate.
Chief executive Xavier Campbell briefly dialled into the call, his phone was lighting up like a Christmas tree.
Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services was alerted and contract tracing for McKenna had begun.
How do they track a virus you can’t see?
Well, DHHS has about 1000 tracers – made up of epidemiologists, public nurses, analysts, IT staff and environmental health officers.
The ‘Disease Detectives’ started by tracking McKenna’s movements in reverse from the irregular test, and then forwards.
That process is called “ring fencing” and the aim is to neutralise anybody exposed because, unlike other illnesses, there is no treatment – such as vaccines or antibiotics – for COVID-19.
It was established that after McKenna’s negative test on Wednesday he had a haircut and inspected apartments in Port Melbourne, because the lease on his Queens Rd flat was close to expiring.
After submitting to Friday’s “low-level irregularity” test – and long before that result was known – McKenna visited his host family, who he hadn’t seen this year.
“We were actually on our way out when he came,” Marty Allison, the man who recruited McKenna to Essendon and took him in for more than 12 months when he arrived in Australia, told the Herald Sun.
On Sunday night the DHHS informed Allison that his family of four had been identified as close contacts and had to quarantine until next Friday.
“He was here for about 25-30 minutes, and anything more than 15 minutes face-to-face is considered close contacts,” Allison said.
“But I’ll say this – it was great to see him. He looked great – incredibly fit – and he was incredibly excited about being named in the team to play Melbourne.”
McKenna’s housemates – brother Ryan and his fiancé Stacey – were also close contacts and told to join McKenna inside their cramped apartment.
McKENNA was one of 19 Victorian cases detected last Saturday, and there have been another 141 since.
For coronavirus patients who have visited businesses, contract tracers might study CCTV footage. For Uber drivers they call up client lists.
For McKenna they forensically examined footage of Friday’s training session.
The Bombers also handed DHHS a floorplan of Tullamarine, a log of meetings, training summaries and intimate details of training drills.
But it was the vision DHHS prioritised as fears they would wipe out a cluster of Bombers grew.
After all, every human on the planet has been told to stay at home and refrain from hugging their parents.
If handshakes were becoming extinct what would health authorities make of McKenna participating in a two-hour full contact session with Essendon’s entire list?
But by Monday night the DHHS investigation found wrestling partner James Stewart was McKenna’s only close contact from the club.
Campbell said there was an element of “luck” involved, and that DHHS defined close contact as spending a cumulative 15 minutes within 1.5m or two hours in a confined space.
But Essendon’s documentation and protocols – in other words, its governance – played no small part in helping avert a football crisis.
Even Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge tipped his hat to the Bombers, saying his club needed to sharpen up.
As Essendon prepared for football’s restart it peppered AFL health and safety boss Pat Clifton, an unsung hero at league headquarters, with about 12 questions everyday.
“They were around ‘Can we do this? Does this fit in the protocols? What risks are here?’” Worsfold said.
“We took the protocols extremely seriously.
“The way the players have dealt with being told, ‘You can’t shoot around with the basketball while you’re waiting for the next session if it’s not with a player in your (training) group’, they’ve all acknowledged it and moved on without complaining or feeling like it’s too harsh.”
HEALTH authorities discharged players and staff from self-isolation on Tuesday.
From Saturday to Tuesday they were only allowed to leave the house for a drive-through COVID-19 test on Monday although midfielder Dylan Shiel saw the lighter side of his three days locked inside.
“The HelloFresh actually went back into the fridge and the four-pack (of craft beer) came out,” Shiel said.
“I’m sort of enjoying this one game on, 10 weeks off, one game on, one week off. Bloody hell, you’ll be able to play until you’re 40-plus.”
Tullamarine was closed for deep cleaning as high-traffic areas such as door knobs were tested for the virus and so on Tuesday afternoon players were told to sweat through a local running session.
Normality resumed for Worsfold when he logged on to a virtual match committee meeting to plan for Saturday’s game against Carlton.
But away from football there was a human toll.
The average COVID-19 patient in Victoria has 10 close contacts, and seven were identified for McKenna – Stewart, the Allison household and his two housemates.
And then there was de Morton, a respected doctor in the community, who had to cancel appointments with all of his patients for the week because he was told to stay away from his Niddrie medical clinic.
“(McKenna’s) incredibly sorry for maybe breaching the rules,” Allison said.
“He feels as though he’s let the club down, the players down, the supporters down and he’s particularly embarrassed about that.
“And then he’s copped a fair pistolling from mainstream and social media. I know the club has some concerns about his mental health, as do I.”
With McKenna cooped up at home the AFL is in no rush to decide whether he has breached its protocols although, unless new facts emerge, a sanction would be harsh given how grey the case is.
AFL players have thrown their arms around McKenna. Brownlow medallist Patrick Dangerfield said he’d been “treated like a criminal at times”.
Teams: Dees, Roos swing changes, two to debut
Conor McKenna jumped into his Holden Commodore with a beaming smile.
It was last Saturday morning and McKenna, 24, believed he was 20 minutes from training and one sleep from playing his first AFL game in 290 days.
Then, his phone rang. On the line was Essendon club doctor Brendan de Morton, and the conversation went something like this.
“Conor, did you take your coronavirus test after training yesterday?”
“I sure did.”
“Well, the result is ‘pending’ – it’s saying it’s not complete …”
De Morton asked Dorevitch Pathology to investigate, and when McKenna arrived at Tullamarine he was excluded from the captain’s run and told to observe strict social distancing.
Kayo is your ticket to the 2020 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. Watch every match of every round Live & On-Demand. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
It’s been a horror week for Conor McKenna. Picture: Michael Klein
“The alarm bells weren’t ringing too loudly. It wasn’t a positive test at that stage,” coach John Worsfold said.
But Dorevitch called back 20 minutes later to say McKenna’s test was a “low-level irregularity”. He was re-tested and sent home to isolate, alarm bells activated.
Bombers football boss Dan Richardson and COVID-19 compliance officer Lisa Lawry circulated a Microsoft teams video link to players and staff.
It was now 3.55pm and McKenna’s subsequent test had come back positive. The AFL postponed Sunday’s game against Melbourne and the Bombers’ bubble was ordered to self-isolate.
Chief executive Xavier Campbell briefly dialled into the call, his phone was lighting up like a Christmas tree.
HOW DO THEY TRACK A VIRUS YOU CAN’T SEE?
Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services was alerted and contract tracing for McKenna had begun.
How do they track a virus you can’t see?
Well, DHHS has about 1000 tracers – made up of epidemiologists, public nurses, analysts, IT staff and environmental health officers.
The ‘Disease Detectives’ started by tracking McKenna’s movements in reverse from the irregular test, and then forwards.
That process is called “ring fencing” and the aim is to neutralise anybody exposed because, unlike other illnesses, there is no treatment – such as vaccines or antibiotics – for COVID-19.
It was established that after McKenna’s negative test on Wednesday he had a haircut and inspected apartments in Port Melbourne, because the lease on his Queens Rd flat was close to expiring.
After submitting to Friday’s “low-level irregularity” test – and long before that result was known – McKenna visited his host family, who he hadn’t seen this year.
“We were actually on our way out when he came,” Marty Allison, the man who recruited McKenna to Essendon and took him in for more than 12 months when he arrived in Australia, told the Herald Sun.
On Sunday night the DHHS informed Allison that his family of four had been identified as close contacts and had to quarantine until next Friday.
“He was here for about 25-30 minutes, and anything more than 15 minutes face-to-face is considered close contacts,” Allison said.
“But I’ll say this – it was great to see him. He looked great – incredibly fit – and he was incredibly excited about being named in the team to play Melbourne.”
McKenna’s housemates – brother Ryan and his fiancé Stacey – were also close contacts and told to join McKenna inside their cramped apartment.
Essendon’s training plans were put under the microscope. Picture: Getty Images
HOW BOMBERS HELPED AVERT A FOOTBALL CRISIS
McKENNA was one of 19 Victorian cases detected last Saturday, and there have been another 141 since.
For coronavirus patients who have visited businesses, contract tracers might study CCTV footage. For Uber drivers they call up client lists.
For McKenna they forensically examined footage of Friday’s training session.
The Bombers also handed DHHS a floorplan of Tullamarine, a log of meetings, training summaries and intimate details of training drills.
But it was the vision DHHS prioritised as fears they would wipe out a cluster of Bombers grew.
After all, every human on the planet has been told to stay at home and refrain from hugging their parents.
If handshakes were becoming extinct what would health authorities make of McKenna participating in a two-hour full contact session with Essendon’s entire list?
But by Monday night the DHHS investigation found wrestling partner James Stewart was McKenna’s only close contact from the club.
Campbell said there was an element of “luck” involved, and that DHHS defined close contact as spending a cumulative 15 minutes within 1.5m or two hours in a confined space.
But Essendon’s documentation and protocols – in other words, its governance – played no small part in helping avert a football crisis.
Even Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge tipped his hat to the Bombers, saying his club needed to sharpen up.
As Essendon prepared for football’s restart it peppered AFL health and safety boss Pat Clifton, an unsung hero at league headquarters, with about 12 questions everyday.
“They were around ‘Can we do this? Does this fit in the protocols? What risks are here?’” Worsfold said.
“We took the protocols extremely seriously.
“The way the players have dealt with being told, ‘You can’t shoot around with the basketball while you’re waiting for the next session if it’s not with a player in your (training) group’, they’ve all acknowledged it and moved on without complaining or feeling like it’s too harsh.”
Dyson Heppell gets his COVID-19 test. Picture: AAP Images
THE HUMAN TOLL
HEALTH authorities discharged players and staff from self-isolation on Tuesday.
From Saturday to Tuesday they were only allowed to leave the house for a drive-through COVID-19 test on Monday although midfielder Dylan Shiel saw the lighter side of his three days locked inside.
“The HelloFresh actually went back into the fridge and the four-pack (of craft beer) came out,” Shiel said.
“I’m sort of enjoying this one game on, 10 weeks off, one game on, one week off. Bloody hell, you’ll be able to play until you’re 40-plus.”
Tullamarine was closed for deep cleaning as high-traffic areas such as door knobs were tested for the virus and so on Tuesday afternoon players were told to sweat through a local running session.
Normality resumed for Worsfold when he logged on to a virtual match committee meeting to plan for Saturday’s game against Carlton.
But away from football there was a human toll.
The average COVID-19 patient in Victoria has 10 close contacts, and seven were identified for McKenna – Stewart, the Allison household and his two housemates.
And then there was de Morton, a respected doctor in the community, who had to cancel appointments with all of his patients for the week because he was told to stay away from his Niddrie medical clinic.
“(McKenna’s) incredibly sorry for maybe breaching the rules,” Allison said.
“He feels as though he’s let the club down, the players down, the supporters down and he’s particularly embarrassed about that.
“And then he’s copped a fair pistolling from mainstream and social media. I know the club has some concerns about his mental health, as do I.”
With McKenna cooped up at home the AFL is in no rush to decide whether he has breached its protocols although, unless new facts emerge, a sanction would be harsh given how grey the case is.
AFL players have thrown their arms around McKenna. Brownlow medallist Patrick Dangerfield said he’d been “treated like a criminal at times”.
Essendon’s base underwent extensive cleaning. Picture: AAP Images
INSIDE MCKENN’S TOUGH 2020
IT has been a rocky 2020 for the Irishman.
McKenna has had 11 COVID-19 tests, given a blood sample to look for coronavirus antibodies, battled homesickness and played zero AFL games.
By Friday he would have spent six of the past 12 weeks trapped in quarantine.
As the world entered lockdown in April, Mckenna felt free as he went fishing and trained with his cousins in Northern Ireland.
He was at the picturesque family home. Complete with rolling hills it appears straight out of a Hollywood set.
But to get there McKenna had to serve two weeks quarantining at an isolated holiday house with fellow Irish footballers, and another two weeks awaited at Crown Casino when he jetted back last month.
“They only let him out for 15 minutes a week for fresh air (at Crown),” Allison said.
“Fifteen minutes a week for fresh air – he’s done it tough. He’s now in his third period of isolation.
“There wouldn’t have been too many people on the globe that have had as many tests as he’s had and have spent this much time in isolation.”
As a child in the tiny town of Eglish McKenna changed sports as often as he changed clothes, so stuck inside playing Xbox was far from his natural habitat.
He juggled Gaelic football, basketball, soccer, hurling, rugby and – until a growth spurt at 14 thwarted his hopes of being a jockey – horse racing.
McKenna is already contracted for 2021. But Bombers supporters worry this latest episode will only swell his desire to pack up and leave prematurely.
What does Allison think?
“I think Conor McKenna loves playing footy,” he said.
“He’s not a fan of training – his homesickness came at the end of a 10-week block when it’s training, it’s mundane, it’s boring.
“He just likes playing. If he could jump off a plane and do two weeks isolation and the jump into a season I reckon you’d have him for the rest of his playing career.”
Campbell said Essendon’s two welfare officers, psychologist, mental skills coach and de Morton were supporting McKenna and Stewart, while Allison said Campbell, Adrian Dodoro and Matt Little had supported his family.
On Wednesday the Bombers couriered some weights and an exercise bike to McKenna and Stewart, although there was no room in McKenna’s cramped apartment for a treadmill.
Bizarrely, whether McKenna actually had coronavirus remains a mystery,
“He’s gone negative (seven times), irregular, positive, negative, negative – and no one, not even the best brains in the country, can find a suitable explanation,” Allison said.
Armed with the knowledge McKenna’s Friday and Saturday swabs were re-tested by the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, and confirmed as positive, Dr Peter Larkins thought the confusing case would best be explained by a positive test on Wednesday.
After all, testing isn’t 100 per cent accurate and that would indicate Monday’s negative was a false.
False negatives are far more prevalent than false positives in the community, primarily because testers don’t swab deep enough in the nose to catch the pockets of virus hiding in the mucus lining.
“You don’t just get it and get rid of it in a three-day period,” Larkins said.
“I don’t know that anybody has documented that about this virus in the community.”
Mystifyingly, McKenna’s Wednesday test, like Monday, came back negative.
Was McKenna a “medical miracle” – as Stewart’s manager Peter Jess said – who had fought off a deadly disease almost as quickly as some people take to beat a hangover?
Worsfold, a trained pharmacist, didn’t think so.
“There’s some doubt in my mind (that he ever had the virus),” he said on Wednesday.
Campbell backed the testing regime of a virus doctors are still learning about.
“The thing that continues to remain relevant is that society keeps faith in the system and people continue to get tested if they are not feeling well,” he said.
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Amazing.
A week to decide if there’s been a breach, when there hasn’t.
Compare that to any of the ones the want to sweep under the rug, PostGate, StabGate, DrinkDriveCrashCarLeaveSceneGate.
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If he’s got antibodies, it’s an indication he had the virus needy quite some time ago… like maybe when he was in Ireland… 
Sure, and if that’s the case the Aflac insistence that he had it last weekend is completely garbage.
They only said he had it, they didn’t say he definitely had it last weekend. Left that to the experts to work through.
ANNOUNCE LACK OF (FURTHER) PENALTY.
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they said you’d say that!
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Always thought this was an ironic name for a Dr.
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16 NBA players out of 302 tested have coronavirus. No admonishing of these players. I AFL player out of 700+ tests positive (if it even is a legitimate positive test given that tests before and after all read negative) and he’s treated like a serial killer…
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So where the ■■■■ has he been?
Dickless non-entity.
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Is this like that joke, where the guy’s on the line to 000 and the operator asks “and are you sure your wife’s dead?”
“Hang on a minute… BANG BANG BANG yes I’m sure now”
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Yes, but how many of these NBA players play for Essendon, that is their missing element
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