Sunshine state of alarm
EXCLUSIVE
SELECT NRL players in NSW will be subjected to COVID-19 tests every 72 hours as the Queensland Government fights to prevent the Broncos, Titans, Cowboys and Storm being relocated to Sydney.
News Corp can reveal ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk held talks on Thursday morning amid fears the Sunshine State’s four NRL teams were to be moved to NSW immediately.
The Queensland Government is concerned about the spike in COVID infection rates in NSW and Victoria and there are fears they will beef-up border protocols to protect millions of Queenslanders, including Broncos, Titans, Cowboys and Storm players.
Speculation was rife Queensland’s three teams would be ordered into self-isolation in Brisbane hotels over the weekend, joining the Storm, who are currently based at Twin Waters on the Sunshine Coast. But talks today between V’landys and Palaszczuk have allayed fears Queensland’s teams will be ordered to go into self-isolation or move to Sydney – for now.
Instead, the NRL will propose coronavirus checks every three days for 19 NSW-based players who live in and around the COVID hotspot of Casula in Sydney’s southwest.
Those players, contained on an NRL database, will be asked to undergo tests every 72 hours if they are due to play the Broncos, Cowboys, Titans or Storm.
That is designed to avoid any infection for Queenslandbased players and residents.
V’landys today assured Queensland’s teams the NRL and the State Government were doing everything possible to avoid relocating the quartet for quarantining in Sydney with their families in hotel rooms.
“We will test the nominated pool of players every three days,” V’landys said.
“It’s an inconvenience to them but that’s all we can do.
“Hopefully they accept that and we are just waiting for some answers.
“Only the players in NSW in the hot spots who live around the Casula area will be affected.
“There’s only 19 of them, so if they are going to play a Queensland team, they will have to be tested.
“We are going through when those players will have to play the Queensland teams, we’re going through that at the moment.”
V’landys remains hopeful the NRL premiership is not in jeopardy and praised the Queensland Premier for supporting the governing body in unprecedented times.
“The Premier is trying to help us find a resolution for the Queensland teams,” he said.
“It might be the easiest option for us to relocate the Queensland teams to Sydney but we are trying to avoid that at this stage.”