I doubt the share price would have an effect on bank covenants,...

I doubt the share price would have an effect on bank covenants, the loan is to buy GTC, the value of which is unaffected by the AFL pre-merger market cap. It does signal that shareholders don't have confidence in AFL nor its merger with GTC but the bank will already have made their own assessments of the stability of each. IMHO though!
I am puzzled by what is happening with Grant. He has a legal background, true, but also accountancy and business so why has he taken what appears to be a step backwards? And why is Rick Dennis leading the merger operationally when Grant is the one with deep knowledge of the business? The most likely conclusion is that this is a step towards the door, and as some have said on here, this is really a RTO. In that case someone from GTC, or appointed by them, will take over to lead the business.
That is all logical but that leaves a bit of a vacuum at the top right now and I don't think that is helping the face-off to the market and the share price. Grant was a good communicator but is no longer a director and therefore can no longer represent the company eg answer shareholder letters and present, no more than Stace Boardman can. Rick Dennis may step up to do this but based on the AGM he does tend to see shareholder questions as things to be batted off rather than getting on the front foot and giving confidence. AFL need to hurry and find someone to be the public face and not just wait until next year when the merger has happened.