Pearce: NRL bubble bid must pass test
THE man who led NSW to its first Origin series clean sweep has vowed “hysteria” and “fear” won’t cloud the facts as the Project Apollo team push to get the NRL back playing by June.
Team leader Wayne Pearce revealed it would be crucial to house players close enough to laboratories capable of returning coronavirus tests “within a matter of hours, not days”.
This could rule out a regional location such as Gladstone previously considered.
“Where we are going to play is going to be impacted by a number of factors, one of which is the biosecurity, one is the availability of testing facilities,”
Pearce explained. “We need to be in an environment where you can get tests done and results back within a matter of hours, not days.
“It means places that areas remote from a lab that can do the tests are going to be unlikely to be suitable to house the bubble.”
Asked if that ruled out Gladstone or Tangalooma Island, Pearce said: “It doesn’t mean the (Tangalooma) island is out because that is only an hour from the middle of Brisbane.
“We are just doing a fair bit of work at the moment looking at the different facilities and laboratories.”
“If we cut through the fear and deal with the facts then I think we are in a much better position to get the game up and running.”
If this works the NRL will establish a precedent for sports around the world to follow.
“We are looking to create a biosecurity shield around the players and officials and people involved that is going to make sure everyone who goes in there is Covid free,” Pearce said.
“And once you are in there then the risk of infection, providing you keep your biosecurity protocols in place, is very, very low.”
Paul Crawley