Follow Australia’s example to avoid more coronavirus outbreaks says Huddersfield Giants coach

Super League was plunged into crisis this week when eight players and coaching staff at Hull tested positive for the virus after their game against Salford Red Devils, seeing both clubs essentially shut down for the next fortnight.

It is a massive blow for the competition but Woolford feels it was “inevitable” given there were no stringent rules in place around what players do outside of the club environment, as is the case in Australia.

“It was always going to happen,” he said.

“It’s been pretty loose from an RFL point of view.

“I’ve heard that the RFL don’t have the resources to do bubbles like the NRL have.

“But with the looseness around what players are doing away from footy I think there was always going to be an instance of what we’ve seen this week at Hull FC.

“It’s an unfortunate one and I don’t think there’s any real knowledge yet on where it came from.

“It’s been left up to individual clubs. Our club’s doing a fantastic job and our players get driven mad by the protocols but it’s all about keeping us safe.

“I just think there’d be a lot more buy-in from the players and clubs if the RFL had a stricter protocol on what the do’s and don’ts for players and expectations of players were outside of their footy commitments.”

In the NRL, players, coaches and staff can be fined and stood down if they breach protocols.

The former Canberra Raiders assistant coach said: “I’ve spoken to Andy Kelly, our COVID officer, a couple of times about how I was really surprised there was no bubbles and strictly staying within your bubble and don’t go to pubs, clubs, nightclubs...all the sort of things that are in place in Australia.

“I know they’ve had some issues with some players breaking protocol but from an infection point of view they’ve been going a fair bit longer than us without any issues.

“When these protocols from the governing body with strict sanctions they have a lot more power rather than just letting clubs let to their own devices and players thinking the Covid officer at the club is just being a pain in the bum.

“Privately, at our club, I had been saying this would happen.

“I just think we could learn from that and it’s not too late for the RFL to react and bring in some to maybe prevent this from happening again.”

Woolford says there is only so much they can do with their players.

“We’re asking our players to be careful with what they do outside,” he said.

“There’s not a list there of you can’t do this or that and you have to have some trust in your players. It’s just a little loose and a grey area for all clubs and all players.

“I’m not saying the FC guys were doing the wrong thing. What I am saying is I don’t think there’s been enough strict protocol policy from the governing body.

“We had a long time in lockdown to get this right and I just think it could have been stronger from the powers-that-be; it doesn’t take a lot of money to make some rules and regulations, some dos and don’ts and impose sanctions on clubs and players who want to go outside of those protocols.

“It was inevitable what happened at Hull would happen somewhere and I can only cross my fingers and hope it is the one and only.”

Woolford added: “We just had a meeting this morning at our club and, let’s be honest, the players at times think it’s just the club being painful and over-exaggerating the situation and why are we doing this and why are we doing that.

“Whereas I think if there’d been some rules and regulations in place from the governing body, there would be a lot more buy-in.

“It’s not hard to see on social media that there’s players from all clubs out and about doing things that probably they should be a little bit more careful with but what’s done is done now.

“All we can do from our point of view at Giants is to make sure we’re doing everything we possibly can to keep people safe at our club.

“But I’d be surprised if this is the only case we have between now and the end of the season.”

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