Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir will be absent from the Western Derby on Sunday after being placed in the AFL’s Health and safety protocols.
AFL.com.au are reporting he’s been deemed a close contact to a case not directly related to the club, however Longmuir was at training on Thursday.
The club’s GM of football Peter Bell has confirmed that every player and football staff undertook RATs on Thursday, all tests coming back negative.
“We have been hyper-vigilant in our endeavours to mitigate the risk COVID poses to the daily operations of the Club and we will continue to do so,” Bell said.
“It is a further reminder just how prevalent COVID is in the community.
“Our first priority at this stage is the health and well-being of Justin and his family. We will provide all the necessary support that Justin and his family require.”
Assistant coach Jaymie Graham will be in charge of the Dockers when they stride onto Optus Stadium, a peculiar situation given he was formerly at West Coast and stood in for Adam Simpson for one game in 2018.
“We have an enormous amount of faith in what is an extremely capable coaching group and while it’s not ideal that Justin will be dialling in remotely, we know Jaymie and the rest of our Coaching team will do a great job,” Bell added.
Longmuir becomes the second senior coach to miss a game in 2022 after Michael Voss was absent during Carlton’s win over the Western Bulldogs in Round 2.