The NRL will sit down with the nation’s chief medical officer on Tuesday morning as the league ramps up its efforts to ward off the threat of the coronavirus.
The meeting with professor Brendan Murphy comes a day after ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys expressed confidence in the game’s immediate future.
“We’ve got some biosecurity advice today (Monday) which has made me a little bit more confident moving forward,” V’landys said on NRL 360 on Monday.
“We’re meeting with the chief medical officer (Tuesday) morning to get further advice. We want to make these decisions with the best available information.”
NRL officials will also discuss preventative measures with health minister Greg Hunt, who has previously predicted the virus outbreak to last six months.
But, as it stands, the league remains determined to push ahead with their season despite a number of sporting codes suspending their competitions.
V’landys insisted the governing body would not be rushed into making the same call, which would have a disastrous financial implications.
“We want to have that lever in our armoury to suspend the season when we have to. It’s a bit premature to do it on the available advice that we have now,” he said.
In a sign of its attempt to keep their players healthy, the league has organised chartered flights for teams travelling interstate for their games this weekend.
V’landys also said players needed to reduce their social activity.
“We’ll minimise the risk as much as possible,” he said.
“But at the end of it, it’ll be the player. As long as the player is educated and reduces the social activity… they’re not going to the pub, not going to a restaurant, staying at home, etc., we’ll be in a good position.”
GoGWS
Roar Guru
The NBL couldn’t even manage to finish a five game final series...and meanwhile the NRL is somehow forging ahead with its scheduled 25 week season. It’s not hard to see where the NRL’s season will end up. The NRL (and AFL) can keep playing but at some point at least one of their clubs will inevitably be impacted by the virus and then what? Does the affected club or clubs exit the competition for 2020 or will they be required to limp along with a diminished playing roster? And the same problem applies to coaching and admin staff at clubs - at some point club coaches and administration will also be impacted. Even granting that players/coaches would likely only suffer milder symptoms, when the virus spreads within a club it could derail their season as affected people work through mandatory self isolation. Interesting to see how this plays out across the season... both the NRL and AFL have talked about being “agile” and they’re going to need to be.
R N
Roar Rookie
Galacticly stupid...
Albo
Roar Rookie
Well it seems after meeting with nation’s chief medical officer, Dr Geoffrey Edelsten, it is all systems go for the NRL. You can't knock the science .
Andrew
Guest
Super league is now shut down and UFC has now shut down. So to be clear - the sport where they encourage participants to belt people unconscious and when they are down, hit them again... that sport thinks in the interest of the safety of its athletes it has to shut down. But the NRL thinks it should soldier on. This has the potential to blow up in their faces in devastating style
GoGWS
Roar Guru
Very difficult to make a call here.. provided they arm themselves with the best information I guess that’s all they can do… and also when it comes to the crunch we hope they prioritise community health above the financial interests of their own clubs, and their own careers.