OISIN MULLIN TESTED positive for Covid-19 before boarding a plane to Australia last week, which has delayed his arrival at Geelong according to the club’s CEO Steve Hocking. 

Geelong started pre-season training earlier this week and the absence of the Mayo star fuelled speculation that he was having second thoughts about the move.

Mullin signed a two-year rookie deal with the Victoria club in November and was assigned the squad number 34 in December.

Hocking says they still expect Mullin to link up with the AFL side, pouring cold water on recent reports that the two-time Young Footballer of the Year was considering turning down the move. 

“He’s been much talked about,” he said on Geelong radio station K rock Football. “I think there’s no doubt the Irish are doing everything possible to retain that level of talent, which is quite understandable. 

“He tested positive just as he was about to get on a plane to come across here, hence there was no point him getting on the plane.

“So he’s back there at the moment. I’m sure they (Mayo) are working really, really hard behind the scenes to retain him but we’re obviously excited that we’ve got him available to us so we’ll keep working through it.”

When asked if they expect to see the 21-year-old at Geelong in 2022, he replied: “Yes we do. I think there’s lot of Geelong supporters that are very excited about that as well.”

After Mayo manager James Horan was asked about the matter after their FBD League game against Galway eight days ago, county PRO John Walker interjected to say: “We can’t comment on that at the moment, there are family reasons.”

Horan said it was a “difficult situation” and added that “Oisin and his family deserve the time and space to work through it.”

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