Players back in bubble in bid to safeguard competition
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 NSW-based 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 premiership in jeopardy.
But V’landys said moving to the Sunshine State was a last resort 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 so it’s not like we are staying in Queensland.
“We had relaxed the biosecurity measures when the community infection was reduced in both states, but now we have tightened that up again.”
V’landys said the NRL was taking no risks as the competition approached the midpoint of their 20-round season.
“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,’’ he said.
Broncos prop Payne Haas said it would be an advantage for Brisbane if rivals were forced to relocate to Queensland.
“I think it would be pretty good for us,” he said. “We all love staying at home so if the whole comp came up here it would be easier for us.’’