Sydney NRL clubs to move to Queensland hubs amid covid crisis

The NRL has announced up to 12 teams will move to Queensland by Wednesday in an effort to keep the competition up and running amid Sydneys growing Covid-19 crisis. The nine Sydney-based teams, as well as the Canberra Raiders, Newcastle Knights and New Zealand Warriors, will be given 48 hours notice to move north of the border by Wednesday.
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The nine affected Sydney teams are the Sydney Roosters, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Parramatta Eels, Canterbury Bulldogs, Cronulla Sharks, St George Illawarra Dragons, Manly Sea Eagles, Penrith Panthers and the Wests Tigers.
At this stage, only the Melbourne Storm and the three Queensland-based teams will be allowed to stay at their home bases.
The NRL confirmed the move on Sunday night and said clubs will be will be flown on charter flights to Queensland and comply with public health requirements to ensure no risk to the Queensland community.
Australian Rugby League Commission Chairman Peter V’landys said the difficult decision reduces the risk of the NRL being suspended and minimises the economic impact of NSW’s Covid-19 crisis.
“The commission has conducted an extensive risk assessment and it is clear from the current data trends that the risk to the competition is too great to continue playing in NSW right now,” V’landys said.
“We are seeing close and casual contacts with links to our game on an almost daily basis”.
“Queensland presents much lower risk. By keeping the competition going we keep people employed and ensure the players continue to be paid at their current rate.
“Rugby league is also an escapism for people during difficult times and it’s important we do everything we can so our fans can continue to watch rugby league every week especially whilst in lockdown.”
Each club will be permitted to have a total of 41 people in their biosecure team ‘bubble’, which would likely include 30 players and 11 staff.
NRL officials and club CEOs were entering into crisis talks on Sunday night, as they look to find a way to safely move Sydney’s teams out of Covid hotspots and into Queensland to finish the season.
Significantly, family members will be able to join the players, but they will have to quarantine for 14 days before entering the bubble.
“These are very difficult decisions. I feel for the players who have to leave their homes for a period,” V’landys said.
“We will not keep players in Queensland any longer than they need to be. We hope it is only for a month, but if it needs to be longer, it will be. We’re doing this to protect their livelihoods.”
Clubs will be based on the Gold Coast for at least a month but could remain there for up to eight seeks, which would see the remainder of the season be played in Queensland.
A revised fixture with the location of the next four rounds will be announced in the next few days.
The Sydney-based teams and the Raiders will play their home games at either Suncorp Stadium, Cbus Stadium or Sunshine Stadium.
“The NRL are telling the clubs at the moment that all nine Sydney clubs, the Canberra Raiders, Newcastle Knights and New Zealand Warriors are all going to go the Gold Coast and have a bubble there,” Matthew Johns said on Fox League.
“It could be up to eight weeks.
“Families are allowed to go. They’ll have to quarantine for a couple of weeks before they enter the bubble.
“All the games will be played out of Cbus Super stadium or Suncorp Stadium. Apparently there are moving parts everywhere, they’re going to have to tinker with the draw.
“But anything to keep the competition up and going.”
NRL CEO Andrew Abdo said the league had plans in place to move the clubs.
“We have planned for all scenarios and we are ready to implement hubs in southeast Queensland to ensure the continuity of the competition,” he said.
“We will finalise the exact locations that teams will be based and the updated schedule in the next 24 hours,’’ he said.
“Southeast Queensland has multiple stadiums, high quality venues to train, first class hotel infrastructure and a low risk of COVID-19 infection.
“We will continue to work closely with our biosecurity experts to track the data and consider the risk in NSW. We will also work closely with our clubs to ensure they have every assistance they require.”
It comes as the NRL was forced to relocate Origin III for the second time this week, announcing on Saturday evening that the third game of the series would be played on the Gold Coast rather than in Newcastle.
As Sydney scrambles to contain its outbreak of Covid-19, the NRL moved on Wednesday to shift the game up the M1 and into Knights territory.
However, the league backflipped on Saturday, annnouncing that the NSW Government had blocked the venue change out of fear it could spread Covid-19 to Newcastle and surrounding areas.