Three more Round Seven A-League matches postponed

Three more A-League Men's matches scheduled for the New Years weekend have been postponed to due to COVID-19 cases, bringing the number of games to be held down to two.

The first of three Round Seven games postponements is between Mariners and Macarthur due to a further COVID outbreak in Central Coast's team. The Bulls were meant travel up the coast to play in Mariner's traditional New Years Eve A-League fixture this Friday.

COVID-19 cases within the Mariners' squad were first announced this past Monday. The incidences of positive results lead to the last minute postponement of Central Coast's Round Six match against Wellington Phoenix.

The club now state that more positive cases have arisen within their camp, without specifying the number of players and staff affected. However, they did specify that the amount was great enough to be unable to field a side.

According to a recent interview by APL CEO Danny Townsend, the number of players required to postpone a game was a minimum of five.

One of the three matches scheduled for New Years Day has also been postponed. Newcastle Jets' home match against Melbourne City will not take place this weekend due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation within City's squad.

COVID-19 cases were first announced on December 22 by Melbourne City, who stated then that six players were affected. Like Mariners, this is the second round in a row with no fixtures for the Melbourne based club. Newcastle likewise did not play in Round Six when their match against Wanderers was postponed.

The third game announced today to be postponed was Melbourne Victory against Brisbane Roar on Sunday, January 2, 2022. The announcement came after the confirmation of a number of positive tests with Brisbane Roar's squad.

According to the club, all cases involved double-vaccinated individuals. With this newest positive COVID-19 return by Roar, only Wellington Phoenix and Melbourne Victory have yet to have COVID-19 outbreaks in their men's sides.

Melbourne Victory are set to play this week though in their FFA Cup Round of 16 match away against Gold Coast Knights.

Sydney FC versus Perth Glory had been previously postponed to allow Glory the chance to regain fitness after having undergone a 14-day quarantine due to a COVID-19 positive player in their team earlier this month.

At present two A-League Men's matches remain on the books, both scheduled for Saturday, January 1, 2022. Adelaide United are set to host Wellington Phoenix at home while Western Sydney Wanderers will play Western United.