Melbourne Storm will fly out of Victoria on Wednesday starting an indefinite period of relocation away from their home after a spike in cases in Australia’s southern state.
Victoria recorded 16 new cases overnight bringing their active cases up to 125 and the Storm and NRL have reacted quickly with their match this against the Warriors moved to the Netstrata Jubilee Stadium.
“We’ve braced for the potential that we might need to relocate and potentially play some of our home games in Queensland or NSW,” said Storm prop Christian Welch.
“It’s still developing at the moment, we’re just waiting to see what happens.”
All players and staff will undergo testing but Melbourne are now set to join New Zealand as the NRL’s second home-away-from-home side.
“It’s really hard, I’m reasonably young and single, I don’t have really any family here in Melbourne,” Welch continued.
“It’s pretty easy for me to pack my bags up and move wherever but I do feel for the guys with families and young kids going to schools and obviously their partners and wives, that’s a big task on them.
“I’m pretty sure all of our players would be more than happy to pack their bags for the greater good of the competition and to maintain the health of our communities.”
