The menace they call coronavirus has continued to cause carnage across the sporting globe.
While the region's footballers and netballers await word on if the coming season will be postponed, many events have already been canned as the Covid-19 plague continues to intensify.
A decision from AFL Goulburn Murray — via the AFL Covid-19 Working Group — is expected today, with the coming season strongly expected to be delayed.
The Eastern Football League, one of the state's biggest competitions, opted yesterday to immediately and indefinitely suspend all training, practice matches and events across the competition, but AFL GM region general manager Jamie Macri said his organisation would work through all available information before making a decision.
“The team is working to a set of guiding principles for decision-making, with the health and well-being of our staff and broader football community being its number-one priority,” he said.
“It must be noted that the situation is dynamic with information and advice evolving rapidly. We are committed to reviewing our current position daily taking into consideration any new information that arises from federal and state authorities.
“I am expecting an answer (today) on the direction of community football and netball for the 2020 season.”
The Shepparton Football Netball Club released a statement on its Facebook page yesterday, informing members it "suspects the start of the season will be delayed by anywhere from two-to-four weeks".
The VFL suspended its competition indefinitely yesterday after Richmond and the Western Bulldogs had announced their own second-tier programs would be shut down, although the AFL remains pushing to kick its season off on Thursday night.
But closer to home, events have been dropping like flies; the Rochester Netball Invitational and Evonne Goolagong-Cawley's Indigenous Tennis Come and Try Day, to be held at Shepparton Lawn Tennis Club, have been cancelled.
But Football Victoria is planning to continue with the National Premier League season — which would include the Goulburn Valley Suns’ NPL2 competition kicking off this Saturday — but said additional hygiene measures would be implemented.
Those measures include limiting training to essential people (players, coaches, team managers, club and match officials), restructuring trainings to limit contact and banning the use of shared drink bottles.