Worries mount for depleted Warriors
The Warriors are battered and bruised, and quarantine restrictions mean there are no additional troops arriving any time soon.
Currently, the club has 24 players at its temporary base of operations on the Gold Coast, where they have stayed because of Covid-19 restrictions impeding their ability to play in the NRL.
Many of those are development contract players with 10 of the top 30 squad members unavailable through injury and personal circumstances.
Chief executive Cameron George addressed media yesterday, and said there was still the real possibility the Warriors would be forced to drop out of this season.
The side plays Canberra on Saturday and will be stretched to field a healthy 17. Hayze Perham and Karl Lawton were listed as the 18th and 19th man on Saturday, and will likely be thrown straight into the side.
Several of the club’s NSW Cup players such as Paul Turner and Adam Pompey have also been brought in.
George said he had been in talks with the NRL’s salary cap auditor to discuss possible solutions.
‘‘Look, this whole situation has put us at a severe disadvantage,’’ he said. ‘‘We had a number of players due to fly out today at 9.45am and that got halted yesterday following the announcement from the Australian government.
‘‘Ten of our top 30 guys are unavailable through injury and personal circumstances, so that’s massive.’’
Peta Hiku and Patrick Herbert returned to New Zealand yesterday, to be with their families.
Hiku’s partner is heavily pregnant and Herbert just recently welcomed his first child.
‘‘The 24 guys we have over there are a mix of development players and some of the part-time guys.
‘‘It is what it is, we are up for it . . . I [have] spoken with Stephen Kearney today to get a feel for where the group are at.
‘‘We will push forward this weekend. At this point, and the only real update is, we are on the Gold Coast, we’re training and the boys are committed to getting to the game on the weekend and giving it the best shot.’’
The prospect of the competition continuing without the Warriors still looms large but George was not in a position to confirm any talks around that, at this stage.
If, like many other professional sports competitions around the world, the NRL is officially suspended, like many believe it will be, the game faces serious financial issues.
Not least, how or if the players will be paid.
On Sunday, ARLC chairman Peter V’landys made a plea to the Australian government to assist financially, should the competition be halted.
But yesterday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the NRL was not high on the government’s list of financial priorities.
‘‘That’s a game-wide issue at the moment. We will address that as a collective [between all clubs],’’ George said.
‘‘We are here today putting everything on hold, we don’t know if we will play in New Zealand again [this year]. We don’t know where or if we are playing after next week.’’