Tamworth welcomes Warriors

THE mayor of Tamworth has rolled out the welcome mat for the Warriors to self-quarantine in the city, saying they’ll simply shut the gates to their training facility.

The NRL took a major step in its bold bid to resume its competition next month when it was granted federal exemption for the Warriors fly in from New Zealand. League officials are now seeking an exemption from the NSW state government for the club to train together while isolated from the public in northern NSW.

Tamworth mayor Col Murray anticipated there would be some pushback from the community over the NRL club being allowed to stay in the city and train at Scully Park.

But he guaranteed the players and staff won’t be exposed to the residents for their entire two-week quarantine period.

“They’ll be in quarantine. It’s quite simply a matter of shutting the gate and it’s locked up,” Murray said.

“It’s pretty a neat facility for the circumstances.

“You’ll always find some people will react to anything and you get a lot of free advice on social media.

“But if you go to the main street and ask the first hundred people that walk past, I think you’d get a pretty strong endorsement.”

New Zealand’s level-4 lockdown was downgraded yesterday and the Warriors are expected to leave Auckland and arrive in time to resume training on Monday.

Murray, who was recently tested for the coronavirus, said he had no reservations about hosting the Warriors given New Zealand’s management of the COVID-19 crisis.

He also noted the close relationship shared by both countries.