With the NRL season two months away, this week the NRL has made some announcements with the intention of giving the clubs guidance on how to manage the ongoing COVID-19 threat.
The commencement of pre-season has been delayed.
Additionally, NRL players will be banned from all indoor venues, including pubs and cinemas. If NRL players have visitors to their home those visitors will need to pass a rapid antigen test before visiting (if they can find a rapid antigen test, that is).
This hardline approach has prompted questions. Is this what ‘living with the virus’ looks like? Isn’t this too much to ask of players who’ve been double vaccinated?
What does all this mean for the New Zealand Warriors?
I certainly feel some sympathy for NRL players. Many of you will point out that most of them are paid well, but does that mean we shouldn’t feel any sympathy given that this is the third season likely to go ahead with restrictions to what they can do off the field?
Some players will no doubt also have concerns about the health of their families and those they care about, with some players welcoming new borns over the off-season.
Additionally, for so long we have spoken to male athletes about the importance of having a life away from footy, not just for some perspective but also for mental health reasons. In season 2022, these lives away from footy will again be impacted.
Whilst the NRL’s announcement was clear about its expectations for the male players, it was less clear about expectations for our female players.
With the NRLW season set to commence in February, that clarity is needed and it is needed soon.
What sort of restrictions will be imposed on our NRLW players? Will they be the same as the men? And if so, just how much are we willing to ask our female athletes to sacrifice, especially given that the NRLW season has already been postponed twice?
Imagine not being able to go to any indoor venues for a six-week competition, being expected to train and perform like an elite athlete and then not being compensated as a full-time professional athlete. That seems a bit too much to ask.
The NRL needs to provide clarity on the NRLW season (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
The situation for our female athletes is further complicated because they are not full-time professional athletes.
Restrictions can be imposed on their ability to go to indoor venues for social activities, sure, but the same restrictions cannot be imposed on indoor venues where players work.
Because our players are not full-time professional athletesl many of them will be juggling their NRLW commitments with study, work and family responsibilities. The risk of one our female athletes contracting COVID will be higher than our male athletes given our male athletes can fully focus on their footy without financial consequence and not be required to go into the community as much.
The pandemic has required real leadership from our sporting governing bodies. It has been hard. Difficult decisions have been made. But extra leadership will absolutely be required when it comes to our NRLW season and the welfare of our players.
It goes much further than what, if any, restrictions will be imposed on players.
How will a positive case be treated? Will games be postponed or will that player be isolated? Some other codes have decided to continue, using players in development squads. This will be difficult in an NRLW sense and will really test depth.
As mentioned, the NRLW season has already been postponed twice. Players are due back to pre-season training next week and are desperate to play. Fans are desperate for the competition to go ahead, too.
But for now we must look to our governing body. My hope is that this desperation to play and the incredible athlete commitment is not taken for granted.
These women are not professional athletes. We cannot demand the world from them in terms of social restrictions, quality of play and commitment without giving something back.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
I don’t thinking needing to pause elective surgery to survive is coping at all.
Jabbawokki22
Guest
It's all about to hit shee py, and when it does you just remember, I've been warning you dop es about this for years , your percieved friends in gover nment are in fact your enemies . And the magical elixir, yes it is magic , but it's a dark magic, that why they want the full bloods eliminated , so their is no evidence of crimes committed. Hold on and enjoy the spiral down, Australia is about to erupt.
Jabbawokki22
Guest
Hopefully the girls get back this year
Nat
Roar Guru
BS, you won't touch the most important factor in running the NRLW season at all because you know nothing of it. "logical" the word most commonly used for an opinion when there a lack of facts or data to support it.
Big Daddy
Roar Rookie
Fair enough, although the cricketers are being fairly open . I believe 10 Penrith players have it ( news release on 7 just now ) . I wouldn't trust them to be compliant and if they transgress what's the penalty . They named Peter Snowden's stable hands who broke isolation and copped 3 month suspension .
Dave
Guest
I work in sport events, but thanks for poorly trying to poorly explain it all to me :laughing: :laughing: It is very complex, but you’re still being dramatic af, and being very naive if you think the way you want things to happen doesn’t have a very real potential for absolutely imploding. It’s about risk mitigation, something that simply giving them guidelines not to go to indoor venues severely lacks I’m not going to even touch the broadcaster and revenue argument because you seem very fixated that broadcasters will chuck a fit if they have to change the days/times and that game day revenue is actually a meaningful amount. Neither of which is accurate
Redcap
Roar Guru
Hi BD, Privacy law. A club can't disclose private information about an employee without their express consent. Even if consent was granted, it would be hard to justify disclosure. It's best to assume there's a good chance every person you walk past has it.
Big Daddy
Roar Rookie
One disturbing aspect about these teams with positive Covid tests . Haven't seen too many clubs release the names of players testing positive . Rugby league players can't be trusted to remain in one place for five minutes and as a duty of care the club or NRL should be releasing their names to the media for public safety.
Nat
Roar Guru
With all due respect Dave I'm not sure you have fully grasped the complexities of hosting an event like this. To say they could change it in a week is simply wrong. NRLW isn't being put on for the love of it, it was included in the latest broadcast deal. This event will be broadcast live by 3 different TV stations into Aust and NZ. There is a very specific cost/benefit analysis already done. With that advertisers have agreed to terms to Promote their product at a particular time to an expected audience. Every minute of TV comes at a specific cost. Sunday 2pm has a far different value to Wednesday 4pm. Then you have production teams and their equipment, they are not twiddling thumbs until game day. 7 different stadiums are booked and tickets are selling and sold. That revenue goes to the clubs to help build their game. They may not get good crowds (by comparison) on Sunday arvo at Suncorp but they won't get one person on Wednesday 3pm at Dubbo. I'm not trying to point out holes, if it came to housing them for 6 weeks I'm sure they would consider it. I'm saying there are significantly more considerations from many stakeholders, not least the players, than 'throw them in a hotel and shorten the event'. It's not dramatic, it's just complex.
PeterCtheThird
Guest
Ah, thank you, Big Daddy.
Redcap
Roar Guru
Fair enough - probably depends a bit on where you are at the moment as well.
Big Daddy
Roar Rookie
Adam, don't get me wrong , I hope they go ahead . But it wouldn't surprise me if they canned it . Just not sure they're committed as much as AFL . It's not a code war thing , actually the AFLW is probably harder to play under current Covid and geographic constraints .
Adam
Roar Guru
I think the allied health pressures are probably slightly overplayed in the media. There's no denying that there are some pressure points, but not nearly as high as the media stories portray. My wife in a airway trained nurse and there's been no indication things are moving towards crisis management (though I know that can change).
Redcap
Roar Guru
Hi Jim, Sorry, I meant daily new case numbers in six figures. A distinct possibility in the next month or so. Allied health services are already under significant pressure, but you're right things are holding up ok so far. I know the virus will eventually become endemic - i.e. we'll learn to live with it - but we're not there yet. This thing is still evolving rapidly.
Dave
Guest
Bit dramatic don’t you think? It’s not that bad. It’s a hell of a lot more logistically sound and covid proof than what you’re putting forward. And I mean a lot, because at the end of the day that’s the goal isn’t it, for the event to go ahead They can change it in a week if they need be, broadcasters worldwide have been shown to be very flexible with this sort of thing and there’s a plethora of suburban and rural grounds that can easily accomodate for what is needed Make it a bit longer if you need to, the number is arbitrary, it’s 5 games each plus finals. It’s not undoable, again SuperW we’re able to do something similar and they’re even more amateur than the league girls If the NRL were worried about cost/benefit they wouldn’t run the NRLW at all, but they want it to happen so they’ll take the hit, it’s a minuscule amount to what they forked out last year for the NRL to go ahead. Plus you don’t add in every family member for a limited time covid bubble. There’s going to be holes in any idea. Mine assures the event goes ahead, letting it go ahead as per planned is fraught with dangers. To be honest I think it’s crazy they’re even bothering to do the February version, ahouldve been a case of 2021 is unfortunately cancelled, too bad we’ll see you next year.
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
Sorry should read, ' virtually every person ' . No time for absolutes now.
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
I respect your opinions AMD but the statement 'the public health system can't cope with Cases in the hundreds of thousands is just incorrect.' There are 284,000 cases atm and clearly it is coping. Secondly, the virus is going nowhere . The statement ' we have to learn to live with it 'isn't even slightly controversial'. Its just a statement of fact. Sure things need to be done to slow it down and I have no problem complying and getting all my vaxes etc, but its here to stay and on current evidence , every person will get it at some stage.
Nat
Roar Guru
Yes but the AFLW isn't going ahead without restrictions or concerns. The whole GC team was iso'd last week. 4 Melbourne clubs have players in ISO now and a few due to miss the start of the season. I guess the NRL question will be player depth. At this point the NRL are committed financially. It would only be mass breakouts that force a club/s not to be able to field a team that would kybosh it now.
Adam
Roar Guru
It has to go ahead. If the NRL can run the mens competition for 30 odd weeks they can surely run the NRLW for a fifth of that time or as has been suggested above, condense it into a shorter time frame if it's too hard.
Adam
Roar Guru
I completely understand the perspective of others. I for one can work from home 5 days a week so lockdowns/border closures have no impact on my day to day life. We have a bit of mining on the west coast and I'm sure the mining company and the miners would prefer to be covid free entirely, but they're probably also partially pleased that movement across the borders is slightly easier now. For the most part the messaging here has actually been pretty clear. 'Get to 90% and we'll open up the borders, there'll be case but that's what the vaccination rate is for.'