Townsville is on standby to hold the NRL grand final on Sunday with new cases of COVID-19 in Brisbane raising fears of an impending lockdown in south-east Queensland.
Suncorp Stadium is scheduled to host its first NRL decider on Sunday evening but those plans are now in danger after four locally acquired cases of coronavirus were detected in the Sunshine State.
Tickets for the premiership decider between South Sydney and Penrith at the 52,000 capacity stadium in Brisbane have already sold out.
At this stage the NRL is not overly concerned about a last-minute switch to Townsville, but the next 48 hours will be critical.
The Sheffield Shield cricket game between Queensland and Tasmania was postponed just minutes before the toss.
It’s expected the Queensland government will hold fire on an immediate lockdown on Tuesday but any additional cases of community transmission could rapidly escalate the situation.
Should a lockdown be announced in the coming days the NRL would then pull the trigger and relocate the season finale to Townsville for the first time.
Townsville’s stadium has a maximum capacity of 25,000 people, less than half of the crowd that Suncorp will hold if the game is able to go ahead as planned in Brisbane.
Maxtruck
Roar Rookie
Roar is a sports forum. This is a political discussion and should be removed
clipper
Roar Rookie
Much better to wait like Gladys did in NSW - look what happened there - even NZ is struggling to contain their outbreak, even after locking down after one case.
steveng
Roar Rookie
:laughing: this is how it is today, when 4 new cases in a population of 2.5 million is a worry? Annastacia Palaszczuk should shut the city down immediately and refuse the NRL GF to be held, better still, the whole of Qld! This is absolutely scandalous when 0.00016% of a city gets a virus (which is similar to the nonsense of carbon emissions of Australia climate change) get this virus and they want to close the city down?
Griffo 09
Roar Rookie
Could it though? At short notice, in a nontraditional rugby league state, would you be able to fill it?
Popavalium Andropoff
Guest
Townsville holds 25,000 right? If the GF can’t be played in Brisbane does playing in it in Townsville make financial sense when it could be played in Perth with 60,000 or even Adelaide with 50,000 ?
Adam
Roar Guru
Jeez this article descended :laughing: Get your Vax people - including AZ. The risk profile was vastly overstated even by ATAGI. They're a government agency that have a risk profile of zero. The advice initially reflected that. Then the premiers and CHO's decided to conflate two different issues, risk from immunisation and risk of covid infection and death. So therefore overplayed the advice that ATAGI had provided at a fortnightly meeting that failed to appreciate the severity of the Delta strain (that's why the advice changed). Remember the advice was that AZ was recommended for those in the 60+ bracket if there were not active cases, but that the advice could change if there were active cases. What the advice failed to take properly into account is the amount of time it takes for the booking and then administration of the immunisation. The advice should never have been that strict in the first place. But anyhow, get your Vax.
Adam
Roar Guru
Well if Tasmania could get 50,000 into one of our boutique stadiums we could...
Tony
Roar Guru
:laughing:
Big Daddy
Roar Rookie
Rellum, it's very ironic that the people who don't like being vaccinated are the first one ones to put some illegal substance into their body wether it's by needle or up their nose .
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
"What’s worse than listening to Palazchuck..." How much wood could a Palazchuck chuck, if a Palazchuck could chuck wood, Tony? :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:
KenW
Roar Rookie
Oh well so much for being a careful response... It's all a bit hot on the political/parochial front, I really should just back off, but... well, just a couple of points. The AZ advice changed for the nation due to the risk profile of Delta. As the experience in Victoria and NSW (i.e. super fast lockdown and reluctant lockdown respectively) shows, it moves faster and hurts younger than the previous variants. NSW did get some extra vaccine but their 'lead' is mostly due to higher AZ takeup, that didn't happen in Queensland not only because of the CHO but also because the population felt safer (rightly or wrongly). Queensland has been lucky, hasn't had a serious outbreak and the slower rollout doesn't look like it's going to hurt them which is good news.
The Sporacle
Roar Rookie
Medicare and RBT are just two that I can think of :thumbup:
matth
Roar Guru
On the whole, I'd rather be a few months late than a few thousand more dead.
eagleJack
Roar Guru
1. Agree with you matth. It was impossible to get the Pfizer vaccine after the July 31 snap lockdown. GPs ordered to shift their supplies south. Led to huge delays.
mpc
Guest
What about fat people and drink drivers. Do Governments have responsibility to help them?
eagleJack
Roar Guru
You still here? Anyway glad you made it back from the UK. Perhaps your anger stems from seeing the worst of Covid first hand. I must admit that apart from wearing a mask, my life has not been impacted for a second. Still vaccinated though, so you can relax on that front.
matth
Roar Guru
1. Not true. i speak from personal experience trying to get multiple people appointment to get vaccinated. There were delays of many weeks. 2. But QLD didn't have to go against scientific advice and rush the second dose. the risk profile was fundamentally different. 3. Didn't defend it. Just said it was a factor.
BennO
Roar Rookie
Honestly now you're just outright lying. It was exactly the ATAGI advice at the time. And she has not walked it back at all. Not once.
Tony
Roar Guru
Miles looks like a candidate for a HIA to me
BennO
Roar Rookie
I know she was criticised but not by a single CHO. Only those with an agenda to cover their own proverbial or those with a political axe to grind had a go. It was the same advice all the CHOs were giving she simply explained its reasoning in clear terms. And you're also completely (statistically) incorrect on your second point.