A GARDEN-variety cold could delay North Melbourne defender Majak Daw's much-awaited senior return.
Daw's played only four VFL games and a pair of pre-season hitouts since sustaining serious hip and pelvic injuries in a fall from a Melbourne bridge about 15 months ago.
An untimely hamstring injury ended his chances of making a fairytale AFL comeback last year and now a more unlikely ailment could postpone it.
Kangaroos coach Rhyce Shaw told reporters on Thursday morning that club doctors had sent Daw home as a precaution despite being hopeful he did not have the coronavirus.
The 29-year-old will be named in North's 26-man squad to face St Kilda at Marvel Stadium on Sunday but a final decision on whether he plays will be made in the coming days.
Daw won't be tested for COVID-19 at this stage because his symptoms don’t fit the criteria.
"If he came in with the same illness four months ago, he'd be training," Shaw said.
"So we're just taking the precautions as necessary and we'll weigh up what that looks like on Friday.
"He doesn't seem too bad but our docs have been fantastic in making sure we take all the right precautions."
Ex-Lion and Cat Josh Walker will make his Kangaroos debut after an impressive first pre-season at Arden Street, while Shaw was confident spearhead Ben Brown (calf) would be fit to play.
"(Walker)'s done a fantastic job since he got here. He came in on not much break – Brisbane had a full finals series, (whereas) we finished a bit earlier," Shaw said.
"He got stuck in pretty quickly and he's done a great job and he's been a real rock for us, so I'm really pleased with the way Josh has gone about it."
Brown is training on Thursday morning and needs only to come through that session unscathed to be a starter in North's forward line.
Shaw also hinted two-gamer Curtis Taylor would make the 22 after a breakout summer but stopped short of confirming it.
The second-year coach said there were no reservations "whatsoever" within the playing group about taking the field on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein announced earlier on Thursday his state would introduce the "toughest border measures in the country".
Non-essential visitors to Tasmania will have to go into 14 days' quarantine from midnight on Friday, immediately casting some doubt on the fixtured AFL matches there.
Shaw's Roos were due to play their first match for the season in Hobart in round five against Fremantle.
"We travel to Brisbane next week and in round four or five we go to Tassie, but I think the AFL will work through that," he said.
"I think we can't worry too much about that and, as Gill (McLachlan) and 'Hock' (Steve Hocking) have been saying, you've just got to play it as you see it … and we've been really good in that regard."
