The NRL could be back on the field on Thursday 28 May, if the Australian Rugby League Commission gives the go-ahead at its meeting on 21 April.
The proposal is to create four “bubble” communities of NRL players for the game to resume at the end of May.
If a decision is reached at the ARLC meeting on April 21, it’s likely teams will be granted permission to return to training the following week from April 27. That would give clubs a four-week mini pre-season before the week leading into the return of the season on Thursday, May 28.
The plan is to select four venues in relatively close proximity to each other, almost certainly in south-east Queensland.
The NRL is working with the Queensland government to gain an exemption that would allow the state to host all 16 teams.
Quarantine stations will be set up within accommodation facilities to isolate players who show even mild symptoms to minimise the risk of spread.
“If one of the conferences goes down with the virus, then you’ll isolate that conference for a number of weeks, then you try and figure out how you make those games up whilst not stopping the competition,” said NRL CEO Todd Greenberg.
“We have all that modelled. You can be assured that we’ve figured out how many five-day turnarounds it would be and how many midweek games you’d need to make up games.”
The NRL will this week meet with Channel Nine, Fox Sports and Sky Sports (New Zealand) for talks. Both Channel Nine and Fox Sports failed to make their quarterly broadcast payment on April 1.
The NRL appears to accept that this year’s scheduled Kangaroos tour is unlikely to go ahead and it appears that the Kangaroo coach Mal Meninga will only be paid until 1 May.
