Clubs await state’s call
THE NRL’S D-day will arrive tomorrow with Queensland’s clubs sweating on politicians allowing them to remain at home for the new-look 2020 season.
The Brisbane Broncos, North Queensland Cowboys and Gold Coast Titans will be left in limbo until the 11th hour ahead of returning to training on Monday in preparation for the May 28 season relaunch.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk revealed yesterday that Queensland’s borders would remain closed indefinitely and a National Cabinet meeting tomorrow will decide the teams’ fates.
ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys is hoping Queensland clubs will be granted an exemption to resume training and travel following a “positive” meeting with Palaszczuk on Tuesday.
But Palaszczuk said the government was seeking more information and would not make a decision until after tomorrow’s meetings.
“I had a very positive meeting yesterday with the NRL,” she said. “What we have agreed is their health experts would be speaking with ours and looking through that plan.
“National Cabinet is meeting Friday to look at principles around how elite sports can operate. We’ll be having further discussions Friday.
“It may be next week fore a decision is made).
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says the NRL stars who broke “life and death” social-distancing laws have jeopardised the league’s return this month.
The NRL’S bold bid to resume the suspended competition on May 28 copped a body blow when Latrell Mitchell, Josh Addo-carr and Nathan Cleary were seen on social media posts breaching coronavirus social-distancing measures. (be
“The key for a lot of these sporting codes is training, so we need to prioritise that.”
The NRL is confident Queensland teams will be able to resume training on Monday at their home facilities and not have to relocate to NSW.
The code is also hopeful the clubs will be allowed to play home games and not have to shift all matches in the newlook 20-round season to NSW.
But the Broncos are ready to pack their bags for a Kingscliff getaway in northern NSW if governments decide to extend restrictions.
“We’ve got two plans in place,” Broncos coach Anthony Seibold said.
“Plan A is that we’re able to train here at Red Hill in Brisbane. Plan B is that we go across the border and have a camp at Kingscliff.
“My understanding was there was really positive talks between the premier and Peter V’landys. We’ll just wait to hear from our premier and the government on Friday.
The trio have been fined by the NRL for bringing the game into disrepute but the incidents gave critics ammunition to question the league’s ability to follow strict protocol measures required to relaunch its season.
“We always base any decision on health advice and on the ability of an organisation to stick to that health advice,” Berejiklian said yesterday.
“I think it does jeopardise (the restart), because
“We’ve got no dramas about that. We’ve got both plans in place and we’re really respectful of the situation and whatever decision is made.”
Queensland’s chief medical officer, Dr Jeannette Young, said she had to speak to the NRL’S experts before coming to a decision.
“We need to go through it in detail and talk to them about it,” she said. “There’s also discussions happening at a national level, so it’s important we all work together.” the season hasn’t even started. All of us are making huge sacrifices to protect other people.
“And if that doesn’t occur – if we don’t know that’s the intent – that will of course come into our decision-making, to the extent that it (the season restart) is our decision.
“We cannot afford to take chances or endorse any risky behaviour in a situation where lives could be lost because of a flagrant breach of a rule.”