PORT ADELAIDE football boss Chris Davies says the situation which sees vice captain Ollie Wines being investigated for a breach of the AFL’s COVID-19 protocols could have been handled better by all involved.
Wines did a television interview as part of a private deal with Channel 7 at the front of his house on Wednesday, against the AFL’s policy which precludes players from having visitors to their homes.
Port Adelaide’s General Manager – Football, Chris Davies addressed the issue at a press conference on Thursday.
“The AFL has obviously spoken to us about it overnight. They’ll want to speak to Ollie at some point during the day,” he explained.
“Ollie needs to own the fact that it happened and whatever happens from here will obviously happen.”
Wines was absent from Alberton for the side’s main training session before Saturday night’s Showdown 48 against Adelaide.
It was a blow to his hopes of being selected to play his first game for the year, after missing round 1 following shoulder surgery.
“We made the call, yes, but the AFL supported the fact that in their view Ollie needs to have a Coronavirus test – as we all need to sometime today before the weekend – so Ollie will have that test off site and won’t be allowed back until that test result comes back to the club, which will most likely be tomorrow,” Davies said.
“It highlights the fact that it will have an impact on whoever breaches the protocols – whether Ollie is playing on the weekend, not being able to train today is a significant impact for both the individual and the team.
“This is inadvertent but clearly it’s happened. He’s disappointed, as is understandable in this situation.
“No player doesn’t want to be training because they’ve made a mistake like Ollie did yesterday but the reality is he’s not out there now and he won’t be back until us and the AFL are satisfied he doesn’t have anything that’s going to impact anyone else.”
The Power has already had its selection meeting to decide who it will name for the meeting with its cross-town rival and Davies wouldn’t reveal if Wines was in contention.
But he said he expected the AFL to announce a sanction for the 25-year-old later today.
Davies was adamant that he supported AFL players and officials being held to a higher account than the general public in terms of the COVID-19 restrictions, and he refused to shift the blame for the breach.
“We know that to get the season back underway we needed to be held to a higher account. In this situation we have failed to live up to that account and we’ve got to own it,” Davies said.
“The club was aware that the interview was going to happen so we could have been clearer in knowing where that was going to occur but ultimately in this situation Ollie should have known what the protocols are so this should have been avoided.
“We’re clear on the fact that this situation could have been handled better.”
