Two Canberra Raiders players have reportedly tested positive for Covid-19 after undergoing testing within the past week.
While the identities of the pair currently remain unknown to the public, The Canberra Timesย has claimed that both are contracted members of the club's 30-man squad.
These latest infections now see the number of cases linked with the Raiders jump to four after two members of the club's off-field department were informed they had tested positive for the airborne disease.
Each member of Canberra's staff and roster who is deemed to be a close contact of either of the anonymous players will need to obtain a PCR test immediately and isolate until they are able to produce a negative result.
Although each of these aforementioned parties is now currently in mandatory isolation, the risk of a spread within the Green Machine's ranks has been nullified as players and officials have already commenced their Christmas break.
Canberra, along with every other club within the competition, will be asked to undergo heightened testing rates upon the resumption of the pre-season period of January 5.
As reported on Tuesday morning, employees of each of the NRL's 16 sides face the prospect of up to six rapid tests per week in an effort to stymy the chances of mass infection ahead of the 2022 season.
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Speaking in the wake of the setback, head coach Ricky Stuart insisted that every member of his side would be playing ball with the league's new testing mandate.
"With this scenario of COVID, there's going to be disruptions that occur out of the blue. We just have to handle it," Stuart said.
"The big thing is we've just got to try and make sure once we're out of lockdown, we have a good commitment to looking after ourselves over the break and not wasting the work we've put in over the past six weeks of training.
"We looked at training the boys right up until Christmas, we looked at all different scenarios and we thought 'you know what, we've probably missed a session and a half of conditioning going into the break'.
"We thought we wouldn't change anything now, we'll keep it all as is. We'll just come back on January 5 and continue what we've started."
