LIVING IN A BUBBLE

NRL KEEPS BALL ROLLING ON A PLAN

THE NRL players’ union has revealed it’s willing to consider all the game’s stars living in a bubble together to ensure the 2020 season can restart.

The NRL has now shifted its attention to getting back on the field, after a pay deal was brokered between it and the Rugby League Players’ Association on Thursday.

Under the terms of the agreement, players will receive their wages for April and May but will not be paid for the following five months if the competition doesn’t resume due to the coronavirus.

But with the financial survival of the clubs and long-term position of the NRL banking on a return, all parties are desperate for the show to somehow go on.

The most feasible option includes players being taken to a remote location, and shipped or bussed to grounds to play without any contact with the public.

Gladstone in central Queensland has previously been floated as an option, while Tangalooma Island Resort just off Brisbane shapes as another.

Alternatively, spreading the players across regional locations is seen as another option to mitigate the risk of illness.

And RLPA boss Clint Newton, who has a seat on the NRL’s innovations committee, said he and the players were willing to consider all options even if it meant being away from families.

“We’re willing to explore all options for players, provided first and foremost the players are going to be appropriately protected and kept safe, and do what we can to ensure they are not put at any adverse risk,” Newton said.

“If that means that possibly we find ourselves in a situation where we would be playing in various locations then the players have obviously demonstrated in the first few weeks (of the shutdown) that they’re prepared to explore all options. It’s just again about how are they going to be impacted, how are they going to be protected, and is this of any greater risk than what they’ve been going through?

The innovations committee is due to meet again on Thursday, and NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg said the option of the players living in a bubble on an island was still a possibility.

“It’s an option, it’s certainly not off the table,” Greenberg said.

“One thing we have learned in this period is … don’t say no to anything until you have found out how it would work.”

OPTIONS OPEN: The players’ union are keen to explore all opportunities to see the NRL return to onfield action including housing the players in a remote location.