LAST RESORT FAR NORTH ATHLETES RUN DOWN MARATHON’S TWO-HOUR BARRIER P46
ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys says the prospect of the NRL relocating to Queensland is remote after the governing body yesterday ramped-up biosecurity measures to safeguard their NSWbased teams.
The NRL explored the possibility of housing all 16 clubs on Queensland soil after a massive spike in COVID-19 infection rates in Victoria triggered fears of an outbreak in NSW, which would put the Telstra Premiership in jeopardy.
But V’landys insists moving to the Sunshine State is a lastresort option with the NRL beefing-up COVID guidelines, banning NSW-based players from restaurants, pubs, beaches and golf courses to minimise community infection.
“At this stage, going to Queensland is not a possibility,” V’landys said.
“Taking four teams (Broncos, Cowboys, Titans and Melbourne) into NSW would be a lot easier than taking nine teams to Queensland, but we have reintroduced the biosecurity measures in NSW, not in Queensland.
“We have put the players back in the bubbles and we believe that will give the Queensland government comfort that we are taking this seriously and the security has been tightened to allow us to continue to travel.
“We travel to Queensland and travel back straight away for games.
“Players (in NSW) won’t be allowed to go to cafes and hotels. We had relaxed the biosecurity measures when the community infection was reduced in both states, but now we have tightened that up again.
“It’s one of the options to go to Queensland – but very unlikely.”
V’landys said the NRL was taking no risks as the competition approached the midpoint of their 20-round season.
“We are enforcing the original protocols to ensure our players are not mixing with the general community,” he said.
“Our experts are continuing to monitor the data. We don’t make decisions based on emotion, we make them based on data. We hope it’s only a short spike in the infection rate, but the Commission has shown we will be agile and make the appropriate changes.”
Broncos prop Payne Haas said it would be an advantage for Brisbane if NRL rivals had to relocate to Queensland.
“We all love staying at home so if the whole comp came up here it would be easier for us,” he said.
“The boys here (at the Broncos) aren’t going out but that is part of what the NRL has set down and we have to follow that.
“I think the boys have adjusted pretty well.”