Storm set for NRL rocky ride
MELBOURNE Storm players are preparing for up to eight weeks of fly-in, fly-out visits to Sydney when the NRL season restarts on May 28 and an “adjust and adapt” mentality is being driven home to them.
The first two rounds of the revised NRL fixture will be released today with the full fixture to follow and no matches in Melbourne expected in the short term.
Storm players returned to AAMI Park yesterday for the first full-contact session amid strict biosecurity protocols which included temperature checks on arrival, a single entry and exit point and shoes put in a “dirty zone” box at the door.
Players also had to fill in an app with health information and are restricted to their homes between sessions.
The 32 players and 18 staff allowed in to AAMI Park had full access to the playing field, gym facilities and offices, which were partitioned off to separate football staff from any other club staff. No interaction was permitted.
Fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen said it was the new normal, and just having certainty around playing and training had lifted a significant mental weight off his shoulders after taking a “mental break” when the season was suspended.
“The thing that was hard early on was we sort of had a rough idea when we were coming back but we didn’t know when the season would end. We didn’t know if we would be going all the way through to December, and not have a break then before getting in to it for next year,” he said.
“The first little bit of the time away, it was more about trying to take our minds off footy for a week or two, then dive in to what we needed to do. ”
Papenhuyzen conceded that while each player stayed fit before the return to training, there were “important components” they couldn’t replicate training in pairs.
“You can’t just go tackle someone on the street or people you live with. Getting back in to that was very important and I’m happy they let us do that,” he said.
“And the training week in Albury (last week) was great for us too. We could build connections again and whatever had been lost in the break was made up in a week. That’s an advantage we have over a lot of sides.”
Storm could need every possible advantage too, with match days flights in and out of Sydney on chartered planes set to be their new weekly routine.
“We are going to do lots of work on just getting our heads around that. We’ve spoken about adjusting on the go, adapt and adjust, that’s been a big motto of ours lately,” Papenhuyzen said.
“It still a bit weird. A month ago we were looking at a late June start, now we start in three weeks. But we’ll be ready.”