MANGOPLAH-Cookardinia United Eastlakes say they're prepared to stand down travelling players should they be directed to do so as AFL Riverina seeks clarification on a NSW Health order released last week.
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The guidelines released by NSW Health on Friday includes "ceasing activities that result in the mixing of participants and staff from different regions, for example by ceasing zone, regional or state championships or competitions."
The Goannas have fielded a handful of players from regions outside the Riverina, including Sydney's Harry and Jack Collins and Nick McCormack, Canberra's Nick Collins and Kieran Shea, as well as Albury duo Trent Castles and Jacob Smith.
AFL Riverina hopes to have a definitive answer on what constitutes travelling between regions before round five of the AFL Riverina Championship is played this Saturday.
MCUE and Wagga Tigers, who have won their last three games, look set to be the most affected should players travelling from other regions be banned.
The Tigers boast Ovens and Murray guns Jake Gaynor, Brayden O'Hara and James Grills.
However, the Goannas have been one of the more studious clubs in following restrictions and president Jesse Cunningham said they would fall in line with any recommendations given.
"Absolutely. We've been pretty open and honest the whole way through," he said.
"We've said we would follow health advice, and as soon as that advice changes we'd follow and do what's right because they're the experts.
"If it does happen and the travelling players can't play, it's definitely disappointing for the guys who have played already. But at the end of the day they're going to be supportive of any decision that's going to be made for the health and safety of the community.
"We expected at some point with everything changing so often that at some point there'd be another obstacle we'd have to get across and it's looking that way."
Cunningham is confident the club have the players to handle the setback should it eventuate, with coach Jeremy Rowe already having difficulty squeezing all his first grade quality talent into the squad.
"We'll just have to work through it and that's the beauty of this season, we've got so many players," Cunningham said.
"In our reserves we've got a lot of depth there, so if we were to miss our travelling players there's blokes who have been putting in the work to step up and fill that role."
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