The Newcastle Knights have been forced to cut short their pre-season training camp in north-western NSW after an outbreak of COVID-19.
The Knights left on Monday last week and were due to spend a week at University of New England in Armidale and two weeks at Lake Keepit Sport and Recreation Centre, halfway between Gunnedah and Tamworth.
The Newcastle Herald understands that a player tested positive to the coronavirus in the early days of the camp, and since then numbers have been escalating.
Players and staff undergo rapid antigen testing every morning and those who tested positive were sent back to Newcastle to isolate at home.
After a number of positives on Thursday, including key staff members, it was decided it was no feasible to continue.
The Knights had an initial outbreak of COVID that forced them to defer training when they returned from the Christmas-New Year break.
That was understood to have impacted more than half the squad. Since then most of the other staff and players are believed to have also contracted the virus.
The Herald has been told that even though the camp was abandoned early and there was continual disruption, the powers-that-be believe it was still beneficial from a team-building, bonding and goal-setting perspective.
Knights coach Adam O'Brien and physical-performance manager Hayden Knowles had been hoping that three weeks in which the squad could "live and breathe rugby league" would be the ideal preparation for Newcastle's opening trial, agains Canterbury on February 21.
