GREATER Western Sydney has been granted permission to train at the MCG on Thursday ahead of playing Hawthorn at the venue on Sunday at 1:10pm AEST.

The Giants will then have access to Richmond’s gym facilities for the rest of the week and have their usual captain’s run at Punt Road Oval. The Giants offered the same support to the Tigers (and Western Bulldogs) when they were recently based in Sydney during a COVID-19 outbreak in Melbourne.

The Giants’ players and quite a few staff were already scheduled to have a day off on Wednesday, which gave the club time to finalise training plans and other details after leaving Sydney with only a few hours’ notice. 

With the match against the Hawks moved to Melbourne it means GWS has given up a home game at Giants Stadium, and will instead make only their second visit to the MCG since the 2019 Toyota AFL Grand Final.

Multiple Giants players told AFL.com.au that the group is excited to play what they see as a bonus game at the venue.

The club didn’t push for the match to be moved to the Giants’ other home ground at Manuka Oval in Canberra, as they recognised that could lead to complications if the ACT Government closed its borders to people from COVID-19 hotspots in NSW as it had in the past.

The AFL also saw Melbourne as the less-risky option to have the match played this weekend and to ensure the Giants will be able to play at the MCG again next week.

After facing the Hawks at the venue on Sunday, the Giants are scheduled to play Melbourne at the MCG in round 16 on a date still to be confirmed.

The Giants and Swans also revealed to AFL.com.au how swiftly the decision to leave NSW was made.

As a COVID-19 outbreak in parts of Sydney continued to escalate last weekend the Giants and Swans started putting plans in place for a possible departure from NSW.

Players, coaches and other staff from both clubs started living under the AFL Supplementary Protocols from 8pm on Sunday and were told to be on standby in case they needed to leave NSW at short notice.

They were tested for COVID-19 on Tuesday morning as a usual part of the bubble-like protocols, but the situation then escalated quicker than anyone expected throughout the day.

At about 4pm Tuesday the players, coaches and relevant staff at both clubs were told they needed to be at the airport by 7pm to share an 8pm charter flight to Melbourne.

The Victorian government closed the border to people from central Sydney and surrounding suburbs from later on Tuesday night.

After the flight landed in Melbourne players, coaches and staff of both clubs were again tested for COVID-19 and told to isolate until receiving a negative result. Most were notified of that outcome on Wednesday morning and all have now received the news of a negative result.

The Giants are staying in the same hotel in the Melbourne CBD that they always use when playing in the city, and following the negative test results on Wednesday are now able to live under the same conditions as other people in the state.

The players in particular are pleased to be able to live under local conditions and move around much more freely than they could in the strict hubs that clubs experienced last year.