The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the Kaiviti Silktails’ third season in the NSW Rugby League’s Ron Massey Cup before it has even begun.

This as 21 players and staff tested positive for COVID-19 before their planned departure from Fiji to Sydney on Wednesday.

Silktails Executive Director, Stephen Driscoll, says the Ministry of Health had advised that 18 players and three staff had returned positive results for COVID-19 and would be required to self-isolate for 14 days in Fiji.

The affected players are being quarantined at the team’s Centre of Excellence.

The remaining three players in the squad, who returned negative test results, are also self-isolating at home as close contacts.

Driscoll says all staff and players were double vaccinated in line with Fiji’s return-to-train protocols prior to beginning pre-season in November.

He says new travel arrangements to Australia for the entire playing squad and staff would be reassessed in two weeks at the completion of the quarantine period.

The Silktails’ debut season in the Ron Massey Cup in 2020 and the 2021 season were not completed due to COVID-19.