West Coast Eagles coach Adam Simpson has confirmed 12 players are now unavailable for Sunday’s match against North Melbourne, as COVID-19 decimates the squad.
All players and staff underwent PCR tests yesterday in a bid to find the full extent of the problem.
Star players Tom Barrass, Josh Kennedy and Jack Redden were amongst those forced into isolation yesterday.
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Simpson said the team will look vastly different to the one beaten by Gold Coast last week.
“We’ll be leaning on the top-up players that became available to us in the last couple of weeks,” he said.
“Whether we use three, five possibly. It’s just where we’re at.
“What the team was 24 hours ago has completely changed.”
AFL.com.au reports that the club only has 17 players available for selection, meaning they will need to rely on top-up players from the WAFL who have never trained with the side to make up the required 23 players.
“Unfortunately we’re in a difficult position, we can’t sook about it, we just have to get on with it,” Simpson said.
“It is a challenge, we’re in a different position – and Fremantle – than the eastern states.
“We happen to be the first club to go through it, I don’t think we’ll be the last.”
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