Broncos still waiting on Hunt flu tests

Brisbane will fight moves to force them to play NRL rivals the Bulldogs on Friday
night without any game preparation because of the swine flu.
Brisbane have been unable to train all week.
They put all their players and staff into quarantine on Tuesday after treating them
with the anti-virus tamiflu, and were anxiously awaiting a second round of tests on
Wednesday to determine if representative fullback Karmichael Hunt had contracted
swine flu during last week's State of Origin camp in Melbourne.
A club official said Hunt's test results may not be know until Thursday.
While his five Origin teammates, including skipper Darren Lockyer, have all been
cleared of swine flu, Hunt tested positive to the common flu, influenza A, requiring
a second test.
If his follow-up test is positive to swine flu, he and the rest of the team would
have to remain in lockdown until midnight on Friday, the day of the top-of-the-table
blockbuster at Suncorp Stadium.
"It really does put our match into doubt," Broncos chief executive Bruno Cullen told
the ABC on Wednesday.
NRL chief operating officer Graham Annesley said on Wednesday no decision on the
game could be made until Hunt's results were known.
"We can't really have a definitive discussion with Queensland Health until we know
the outcome of Karmichael's latest test," Annesley told AAP.
Asked about the possibility of moving the game to Sunday, which would give Brisbane
one day to train, Annesley said that possibility had not been discussed.
"We haven't considered any of that," he said.
"Our primary objective is to get the game on as planned.
"We can't really consider anything else until we know what we're confronting."
Brisbane called off training at Red Hill on Wednesday morning after putting 50
players and staff into quarantine on Tuesday night, the day after locking up their
six Origin stars.
While other NRL clubs reported on Wednesday their Origin players had been cleared to
play this weekend, Brisbane's situation remained clouded by Hunt's delayed test
results.
North Queensland cleared their head coach and Queensland Origin assistant Neil Henry
and Maroons fitness trainer Billy Johnstone to return to training on Thursday after
negative results to swabs taken on Monday.
Their three representative players, Johnathan Thurston, Luke O'Donnell and
Queensland's 18th man Matt Scott will also be back at training after being
quarantined as a precaution.
Likewise, Gold Coast trio Luke Bailey, Anthony Laffranchi and Ashley Harrison have
been symptom free and will be back on deck on Thursday.
Bailey, though, will have scans for a suspected fracture in his arm suffered in
Monday night's win over St George Illawarra.
Canberra five-eighth Terry Campese, who made his Origin debut for NSW last Wednesday
night, has been given the green light to play against a resurgent Cronulla at the
weekend after being symptom free for the past 72 hours.
Warriors captain Steve Price, a teammate of Queenslander Ben Hannant, still the only
confirmed swine flu victim, will turn out on Friday night against Newcastle in
Auckland.
Titans coach John Cartwright said none of his players had displayed flu symptoms,
including those involved in last week's Origin game.
Melbourne forward Sika Manu, however, has been withdrawn from the squad to travel to
Perth on Thursday after developing flu-like symptoms on Tuesday.
The club has placed Manu in quarantine to comply with guidelines established by the
Victorian Government.
While the World Heath Organisation is considering increasing its swine flu alert,
NRL chief executives Peter Parr (Cowboys) and Shane Richardson (South Sydney) sided
with former Queensland and Australian forward Trevor Gillmeister, who claimed there
had been a massive over-reaction to swine flu since Hannant became league's first
confirmed case last weekend.
"Not since the millennium bug has there been a bigger beat-up than swine flu," fired
Richardson.
Parr was annoyed his club had had five "perfectly fit blokes", three players and two
coaching staff involved in last week's Origin, sitting at home doing nothing.
"It doesn't make a lot of sense to me," said Parr.