Western Bulldogs will fly out to Perth on Sunday to prepare early for their Round 12 clash against Fremantle at Optus Stadium as the COVID situation continues to develop.
Melbourne won Friday night’s top-of-the-table clash against the Dogs by 28 points, further reinforcing Simon Goodwin side’s premiership credentials in a game that was played in front of no fans at Marvel Stadium.
Victoria’s latest COVID cluster grew to 35 on Saturday after five new locally-acquired cases were announced from nearly 57,000 tests.
The AFL was forced to shift the venue of two games in Round 11 and it’s widely expected the Round 12 fixture will only be confirmed later next week as the scheduled ending of Victoria’s seven-day circuit-breaker lockdown nears.
Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge confirmed his side would leave the state on Sunday, a full week before their game against the Dockers.
“It’ll be similar to last year, our first two weeks we were in the Mercure up on the Gold Coast and it was largely just staying at the resort there, you were confined to your hotel and you couldn’t move out of it,” he said in the post-match press conference.
“That’s what will happen in Perth. We’ll stay at a hotel and operate out of there. We’ll train, it appears, around Optus Stadium and be able to access the gym there.
“But we'll be tested when we get there, spend the seven days there and then fly out on Sunday after we play (Fremantle).”
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin confirmed post-match that winger Ed Langdon has suffered concussion symptoms and wouldn’t play against Brisbane next Friday night as a result of the competition’s new concussion protocols.
"(Ed Langdon) got a little knock to the head,” he said.
“He's been assessed as having concussion, that'll be straight into the 12-day protocol."