The NRL could consider postponing Sunday’s grand final in Brisbane if fans aren’t allowed as a range of contingency plans are hashed out to deal with Queensland’s COVID-19 outbreak.
The next 24 hours will be critical for the NRL decider to go ahead at Suncorp Stadium with league bosses wary of leaving it too late to make a call to either relocate the game or play on in Brisbane as planned.
It presents a logistical nightmare three days out from the grand final with capacity for Sunday’s decider already reduced to 75 per cent after six new cases of coronavirus were reported in Queensland on Thursday.
“We’re in the hands of the Queensland government, naturally, and we’re confident in their ability,” Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys told AAP.
“But we’ve got contingency plans for every scenario and we’ve just got to take each day as it comes and look at what’s going on and make the appropriate decisions
“At this stage it’s all systems go for Suncorp on Sunday with the capped crowd of 75 per cent and we’re being advised that that’s not going to change.
“We’re hoping the outbreak doesn’t get worse and we stay on course.”
With the threat of lockdown bearing down on southeast Queensland, the NRL could be forced to act fast on Friday.
Townsville remains on standby to hold the premiership decider between South Sydney and Penrith should case numbers increase and force a last-minute shift.
However, one new case of community transmission was announced in the North Queensland city on Thursday, adding to the logistical dilemma.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has so far resisted a lockdown.
However, she did acknowledge that should cases continue to rise there is a possibility Sunday’s game could go ahead without fans no matter where it’s played.
Those decisions will be made by government and Queensland Health over the next 24 hours and will be determined by case numbers.
“If there was to be no crowd we’d have to look at the whole situation, so I really can’t say,” V’landys said.
“I don’t want to talk on the hypothetical. We’ve got contingency plans ready for all scenarios.
“We have to look at our options in that regard (if there were no crowds), do we play it or do we postpone it?
“There is all these different options.
“We haven’t sat down as a commission with (chief executive) Andrew (Abdo) to finalise what we’re going to go but we have a number of contingencies to consider if worse comes to worse.
“(Friday) is crucial to see what happens because we’re getting close, but we’re still quietly confident that we’ll go ahead on Sunday.”
That timeline will be critical for the NRL, with the ARL commission on standby for an emergency meeting to decide how to proceed with Sunday’s game.
There is a risk the outbreak could worsen significantly which would favour playing the game on Sunday to finish the season while the opportunity is available.
An empty stadium would be a huge financial hit for the NRL after another expensive season of relocating the competition around COVID-19 outbreaks.
The NRL were forced to refund 25 per cent of ticketholders for the sold-out game after the capacity was slashed from 52,500 to 39,000.
In a last-in, first-out policy, refunds will be issued to the 25 per cent of fans who most recently purchased their tickets in each allocation.
KenW
Roar Rookie
I think that way of thinking is massively overstated. Both teams are 28 weeks into a footy season, they had gruelling pre-seasons for 16 weeks before that. The idea that Souths had a week off a fortnight ago and therefore have some significant advantage - I don't see it. It certainly didn't hold up last week.
davoooo
Guest
And that storm Panthers game was a hard fought arm wrestle.... Bunnies more or less cruised in their match vs manly. If the gf is postponed, south's lose their fair gained advantage of not having to go the long way around to the grand final. Penrith will benefit far more from from a postponement than south's will.
GoGWS
Roar Guru
A few AFL games this year held in SA were capped very low capacity (around 10,000 in a 45,00 stadium) - with fans spaced evenly throughout the stadium they made quite a bit of noise and created a half decent atmosphere. I think if the NRL are offered 25-50% capacity they should take it.. it’d still be an OK atmosphere and you avoid all the uncertainties of a postponement or relocation. Hindsight is always 20/20 but it would seem that a Perth NRL GF would have been the best play…if they had a time machine and could go back that’d be the door to choose…even now it’s probably worth thinking about Perth if there is a shutdown and no crowd can attend at Suncorp. Perth could host and you’d only be looking at a two week delay.
Poss
Roar Rookie
Yes AP & Janet Young have rules & rules when it comes to Qld,I admit that if it wasn't for Qld we wouldn't have had our beloved Rugby League this year but they had no heart when it came to Queensland's wanting to get back home or to adults & children needing medical treatment, but I guess it all comes down to how much money the actors & sport can bring to their state!!! Any other time they'd go into lock down but it's funny how they arn't at the moment..
souvalis
Roar Rookie
Japan just went thru that.. players put their medals around their own necks.
Tony
Roar Guru
:silly: Let's make it $200 then!
jamesb
Roar Guru
And remember: gamble responsibly.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
Wow..all right.
KenW
Roar Rookie
I wrote it in long-form a bit lower but there's no good scenario that comes out of postponing it this week.
Big Mig
Roar Rookie
Those politicians making the decisions are necessarily the sharpest knives in the drawer
KenW
Roar Rookie
Not particularly, I doubt there's a player on either team that wouldn't benefit from a bit more time to heal bruises and stay off niggling joints. I just don't think it's much of a factor. Penrith were apparently completely battered last week too, and would fatigue quickly. But they beat the unbackable Storm.
The Sporacle
Roar Rookie
Nope Monday is a public holiday, my thoughts would be Wednesday that way it will seem unrelated to the GF as a couple of days have passed and they can distract us with some shiny beads. Lockdown commencing Wednesday from 1600 get on it, put that as the last leg of your multi Pennies 24+ into Yeo CC into Wednesday Lockdown :thumbup:
no one in particular
Roar Guru
Reynolds gets an extra week to recover from his groin injury. Both teams will have players with issues, some are just more public
souvalis
Roar Rookie
You dont think Penrith are going into battle on Sunday with more battered soldiers this week than Souths ?
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
I made the point that there could be side effects for two reasons, firstly, the testing and subsequent approval period were shorter than best practice (out of obvious necessity), and secondly, because no process can guarantee perfection (in any field ever). Nonetheless, the arguments about getting the vaccine are overwhelmingly in favour of doing so. I couldn't wait to get my shots, and I haven't grown any feathers after getting it.
Andrew01
Roar Rookie
PVL - as always, priorities are in place as he shows great concern for the community.
Andrew01
Roar Rookie
Systems can be devised, but it is hard to make 100% of the population follow the rules 100% of the time. - Otherwise we would never have speeding fines
KenW
Roar Rookie
How so? I can imagine both teams hating the idea of being in limbo for weeks, training for an unknown date.
jamesb
Roar Guru
I'm sure over a period of time, the Covid vaccine will improve. Today we need a double dose. In the future, we might only need one dose.
KenW
Roar Rookie
All vaccination is mitigation, it is still massively worthwhile. Reducing infection rates stunts the progress of a virus, making it harder to spread and less likely to mutate. Reducing symptoms is clearly good for anyone who catches the virus and reduces load on medical resources. The rest of your post is a bit unhinged. Thalidomide was 60 years ago and the improvements in testing & regulation it triggered (which have been beefed up many times since) is literally an argument for confidence in the vaccines.