The Newcastle Knights have had their pre-season shut down for a second time owing to a COVID outbreak.
The club were on a three-week training camp prior to the season, with the club spending a week at the University of New England in Armidale, before moving to the Lake Keepit Sport and Recreation Centre between Gunnedah and Tamworth for two weeks.
This camp was originally supposed to be run some weeks ago, but was postponed owing to the club's COVID outbreak.
That followed a decision in the final week of training prior to Christmas that the club would begin their holiday break early thanks to COVID, with the virus spreading rampantly around the club.
A topic of contention amongst clubs this off-season is how COVID will be dealt with once the season starts, with the global pandemic expected to play its part in the season, as it has done for all currently ongoing summer sporting codes including the Big Bash League, A-League and NBL.
According to The Newcastle Herald the camp's early cancellation came about after a player tested positive in the early days of the camp before it spread rapidly.
All players and staff at the camp were being tested daily, and those did test positive were being sent home, however, according to the report, it has now reached the point where it is simply not an option to continue the camp.
It's understood that virtually every member of the Knights playing squad and staff has contracted COVID between the outbreak before Christmas and now.
