Further ALM fixture chaos due to COVID-19

With Australia's A-League men's competition being severely affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, two more fixtures for this week have been postponed.

Several positive cases within the Wellington Phoenix squad have meant they will not play on Saturday against Perth - Glory was in action more than a month ago.

Sunday's match between hosts Western Sydney Wanderers and Melbourne Victory has also been postponed as the visitors reported three positive cases in the latest tests.

The postponement came after MacArthur FC announced their game against Western United on Friday at Campbelltown Stadium on Monday.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, league officials said the decision was made with both teams returning to training only after a period of isolation to give them more time for conditioning due to the COVID outbreak.

That means just two matches, both on Saturday, will remain on schedule for this weekend - the F3 derby between Central Coast and Newcastle in Gosford and Sydney FC's home clash with Brisbane Roars at the Netstrata Jubilee Stadium.

Only three matches have been played in the competition since Boxing Day due to COVID-19 issues, while there are also concerns about the virus' impact on players' fitness as they return to training and play.

Socceros international Ryan Grant, one of the most high-profile players to have tested positive, admitted that it took him a while to recover from the illness.

The high-energy fullback came off the bench after recovering from Sydney's win over Phoenix on 19 December and began a 3–0 win over MacArthur on Boxing Day.

Ahead of Wednesday's FFA Cup quarter-final against Roar, Grant said he had potentially underestimated the toll the virus took on his physical well-being prior to his playing.

The 30-year-old said, "I thought I felt pretty good at the beginning immediately after that, but I think looking back, it took a couple of weeks to feel completely refreshed."

"Obviously you go through various bouts of heavy energy and then the next day, I feel like you're a little more lethargic than you were before.

"It's one of my strengths to be able to continue with energy throughout the game or training and I think that's a little difficult sometimes.

"But I've been saying to many people over the past few days, this is the best I've felt in a long time.

"Hopefully it goes away and I can take it to the coming games and really make an impact."

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