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Brisbane players have told the NRL club they still want to play the Bulldogs on Friday night despite spending most of the week in quarantine because of swine flu fears.
The Broncos had threatened to pull out of the Bulldogs game after receiving medical advice the players faced a greater risk of injury after missing three days of training.
A Broncos spokesman said the players met to discuss the situation and decided they still wanted to play.
This had been relayed to team management, who now seem prepared for the match to proceed.
The Broncos had earlier asked the NRL to postpone the game until Sunday, but the NRL said the match would proceed as scheduled despite Broncos fullback Karmichael Hunt being confirmed as the code’s second positive swine flu victim.
Hunt’s teammate, winger Antonio Winterstein, further clouded the drama when advised by Queensland Health officials monitoring the progress of players to go to hospital for further tests after displaying symptoms of the H1N1 virus on Thursday.
Some Broncos returned to training on Thursday but the club was concerned about their physical preparation.
If they had followed through on a threat to withdraw from the game, the Broncos would’ve been the first team to pull the pin on a top flight rugby league game since seven matches were forfeited when Super League players refused to take part in the ARL competition start in 1996.
Apart from any NRL fine, Brisbane would have face a massive financial hit by pulling out of the match because they would still have to pay a ground hirer’s fee and for catering at Suncorp Stadium.
The Bulldogs travelled to Brisbane on Thursday expecting to play, with Queensland prop Ben Hannant a certain starter after overcoming the virus and serving his time in quarantine.
Broncos chief executive Bruno Cullen, who was in Melbourne doing a company director’s course, had been locked in talks with NRL chief operations officer Graham Annesley late on Thursday to discuss the issue.
Annesley said he understood Cullen was unhappy with the NRL’s edict.
“I’ve been in constant contact with Bruno. When I spoke to Bruno he was clearly not happy with the decision to play but he understands that the NRL has to make these decisions,” said Annesley.
He said the decision had been made without any pressure from host broadcasters Channel Nine.
He said it was made on advice from Queensland Health that by game time on Friday night Brisbane’s players would have spent sufficient time in quarantine to minimise the risk of any spread of infection.
“We realise that this creates some difficulty for the Broncos in terms of preparation time,” Annesley said.
“However this is a wider issue than just rugby league, it’s a community health issue and it is something we could be confronting for quite some time to come.”
Queensland Health’s chief health officer, Dr Jeanette Young, said Hunt’s involvement in the clash would be up to the club’s doctor.
“It would depend on the assessment of his health by game time on Friday night,” she said.
“It’s a decision between himself and the doctor that’s looking after the team and they will make the right decision depending on his health.”
She said she wouldn’t expect Hunt to play if he was still showing swine flu symptoms or at risk of spreading the infection.
“Of course not,” she said.
“But it’s more than that, it’s about what’s best for his health.”
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