Through no fault of our own, many of us have self-isolate by law due to having a symptom of Covid-19 or receiving a dreaded call from track and trace.
Richard Agar was one of those, having come out of isolation today (Sunday), and was forced into isolation after a member of the backroom staff received a positive Covid-19 result a couple of weeks ago. Jamie Jones-Buchanan was also contacted by track & trace and was forced into the same predicament.
Hence, Kevin Sinfield, Sean Long and James Webster were tasked with the challenge of leading Leeds to victory, a task which proved too difficult at the end of eighty minutes despite a valiant second half effort.
This isn’t the first time a club has suffered due to Covid-19; Castleford Tigers and Catalans Dragons were shut down after multiple positive cases in the same week, while Warrington suffered a minor outbreak but continued to play for the competition’s integrity and a plethora of players have endured tough circumstances since Super League’s resumption on August 2nd.
Amongst other topics, Sinfield was questioned on Leeds’ current situation regarding Richard Agar, saying: “There’s three we had to do without for this period because one tested positive. Obviously our thoughts were ensuring he was fit and healthy and his family were looked after but unfortunately, Rich [Richard Agar] and Jamie [Jones-Buchanan] were also ruled out with track and trace.”
“There’s a huge amount of disappointment but we understand there’s a responsibility to act. There’s a set of laws out there that we have to abide by.”
“Rich and Jamie are role models so unfortunately, we had to do it tough without them.”
“It hasn’t been easy but there’s no excuses from us.”
