George Williams hopes a negative COVID-19 test will offer a reprieve from his Melbourne quarantine hell, which prevented him joining Raiders teammates at their pre-season return on Thursday.
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The English halfback has been following a strict exercise program hastily drawn up by Raiders conditioning staff this week to try and maintain his core strength and fitness as the club awaits a decision by Victoria's health department as to whether or not Williams can leave quarantine early.
Williams and his partner Charlotte received negative results late Thursday afternoon after being tested for the virus on Wednesday.
They've been stuck in a stuffy hotel room since arriving in Melbourne on Sunday, and being told at the airport that they must quarantine for 14 days, given they'd visited Batemans Bay in the lead-up to Victoria shutting its border to NSW.
Raiders fitness staff have sent Williams a detailed exercise program to pursue while in lockdown.
The 26-year-old, on the cusp of his second season with the club, expressed serious concerns earlier in the week about the detrimental effect two weeks of lockdown would have on his fitness.
"The Raiders' performance staff have sent me a circuit thing, so that's got burpees, push-ups, sit-ups, planking, all the body-work stuff," a frustrated Williams said.
He and his partner were two of roughly 20 Canberrans who travelled to Melbourne on Sunday under the impression they'd be free to enter Victoria without being required to quarantine. Williams said Canberra airport staff allayed passengers' fears of a potential quarantine before boarding the plane.
Victoria's Department of Health and Human Services, however, told The Canberra Times on Tuesday "the Victorian border closed at 11.59pm on January 1 to anyone who had been in NSW in the 14 days prior".
Since being placed in quarantine, Williams and the group of trapped Canberrans haven't heard any more from DHHS.
"It's just a waiting game at the moment, hopefully something happens," Williams said.
"Even if they just tell us why we're in here just so we can get our head around it."
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Williams and his partner visited Batemans Bay between December 28-30 before returning to the ACT and then flying to Melbourne.
Thursday marked their fifth day in quarantine, in a room Williams described as "very small" on social media earlier this week, with a "window you cannot open meaning fresh air is unavailable to us for two weeks".
The only time they're allowed to open their door is during the three-time-a-day arrival of food.
"They knock on the door, you open the door, they're waiting for you a couple of metres away, they see that you pick it up and take it in your room then they walk off," Williams said.