TORONTO MAY HAVE TO PACK IT IN

SUPER LEAGUE’S restart has been thrown into chaos after Toronto Wolfpack confirmed visa issues mean they might not be able to complete the season.

The Canadian club’s seven overseas players – including Sonny Bill Williams – have visas that limit them to six months a year in the UK. They have expired because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Wolfpack have had visa difficulties throughout their threeand-a-half-year existence, with Australian prop Darcy Lussick last year refused re-entry to the country.

But with no progress made on the issue, owner David Argyle says it’s

“crunch time”, with Super League due to announce this year’s reworked fixture list this week.

And Argyle (right) said: “It’s an issue we can’t keep kicking down the road.

“If it isn’t resolved now I don’t see any way we can participate in the rest of this season.”

It has been suggested Toronto fill the gaps with other clubs’ juniors.

But Argyle said: “We’re not here to make up the numbers and never have been. We didn’t hire Brian Mcdermott as coach to do that.

“We feel it would be dangerous to fill our squad with other clubs’ juniors, especially at a time when players might only have four days’ rest between matches.”

Mcdermott’s small squad had been stretched to its limits before the coronavirus shutdown.

Argyle added: “We joined this competition in the belief we’d have the full support of the RFL and success in resolving this visa issue.

“This has been going on for three-and-a-half years now and this Covid situation has exacerbated it.

“I’m not blaming anybody, but we’ve come to a crunch point now where it needs to be resolved.”