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The Sydney Roosters on Tuesday became the first NRL team to have all its players confirmed as having caught the virus at some stage. The Parramatta Eels are not far behind with only one player remaining in their NRL squad - lock Nathan Brown - yet to test positive.
The Herald contacted all 10 NSW-based clubs and discovered the least-impacted teams have been Cronulla and Manly (60 per cent), while reigning champions the Penrith Panthers are at 65 per cent.
The Bulldogs, (95 per cent), Knights (95 per cent), Wests Tigers (90 per cent), St George Illawarra Dragons (88 per cent) and Rabbitohs (88 per cent) have also had a large number of their players test positive to COVID.
The NRL makes about $13 million a round in broadcast rights revenue. It’s why the governing body is desperate to ensure minimal disruption to its schedule and will only consider rescheduling games if a club has a mass outbreak. The NRL won’t view COVID-related withdrawals any differently to injuries, except in extreme circumstances.
“We want to ensure that we can adhere to our contracts and have the least amount of disruptions for our fans, which is why we can’t afford to have a whole team catching it,” ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys told the Herald.
“The thing you have to remember is that when a large number of our players tested positive, it was during the Christmas break and at that time we had none of our protocols or testing regimes in place. We brought forward the Rapid Antigen Testing protocols - the same protocols that we know work because it has been proven through what we have done with Racing NSW the past six months.
“Anyone who comes into the team environment gets tested before they come in. That’s why I’m confident that this will work in rugby league and you won’t have a mass outbreak that infiltrates a club and leaves them struggling to field a team.
“Players need to use common sense and not put themselves in high-risk situations. It’s important for both the fans and our commercial partners. We don’t want disruptions.”
The NRL ordered 300,000 RATs before Christmas, enough to last until April. The ARLC will also meet next week and is expected to rubber-stamp a proposal that will allow clubs to use players from outside their top 30 if they are down on numbers due to COVID.
Under NRL rules, players who contract COVID aren’t required to be tested for six weeks. It’s why clubs with a high percentage of confirmed COVID-19 cases believe the interrupted preseason could prove a blessing in disguise as they head into the season without any more major disruptions.
Clubs have noticed some players return to training from COVID with elevated heart rates but are following NRL guidelines, including electrocardiograms, to ensure they don’t suffer from myocarditis (inflammation of the heart caused by a viral infection).
Eels hooker Reed Mahoney said the club was happy to have the majority of its players test positive and believes the depth of the squad will be a huge factor in the battle for the 2022 premiership.
“It’s something you can’t control, so the teams with a full squad that have players ready to go will be best prepared,” Mahoney said.
“All of our players know that they could be called upon at any time of the year. It’s one of the things you can’t control because in one week we had 15 of us go down. I don’t know how Nathan Brown hasn’t got it - he’s a bit of a social butterfly. Everyone else is glad they have got it and got it out of the way. Hopefully, we don’t have to worry about it again. Everyone was going to get it eventually, it was just a matter of when.”
The Herald contacted all 10 NSW-based clubs and discovered the least-impacted teams have been Cronulla and Manly (60 per cent), while reigning champions the Penrith Panthers are at 65 per cent.
The Bulldogs, (95 per cent), Knights (95 per cent), Wests Tigers (90 per cent), St George Illawarra Dragons (88 per cent) and Rabbitohs (88 per cent) have also had a large number of their players test positive to COVID.
The NRL makes about $13 million a round in broadcast rights revenue. It’s why the governing body is desperate to ensure minimal disruption to its schedule and will only consider rescheduling games if a club has a mass outbreak. The NRL won’t view COVID-related withdrawals any differently to injuries, except in extreme circumstances.
“We want to ensure that we can adhere to our contracts and have the least amount of disruptions for our fans, which is why we can’t afford to have a whole team catching it,” ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys told the Herald.
“The thing you have to remember is that when a large number of our players tested positive, it was during the Christmas break and at that time we had none of our protocols or testing regimes in place. We brought forward the Rapid Antigen Testing protocols - the same protocols that we know work because it has been proven through what we have done with Racing NSW the past six months.
“Anyone who comes into the team environment gets tested before they come in. That’s why I’m confident that this will work in rugby league and you won’t have a mass outbreak that infiltrates a club and leaves them struggling to field a team.
“Players need to use common sense and not put themselves in high-risk situations. It’s important for both the fans and our commercial partners. We don’t want disruptions.”
The NRL ordered 300,000 RATs before Christmas, enough to last until April. The ARLC will also meet next week and is expected to rubber-stamp a proposal that will allow clubs to use players from outside their top 30 if they are down on numbers due to COVID.
Under NRL rules, players who contract COVID aren’t required to be tested for six weeks. It’s why clubs with a high percentage of confirmed COVID-19 cases believe the interrupted preseason could prove a blessing in disguise as they head into the season without any more major disruptions.
Clubs have noticed some players return to training from COVID with elevated heart rates but are following NRL guidelines, including electrocardiograms, to ensure they don’t suffer from myocarditis (inflammation of the heart caused by a viral infection).
Eels hooker Reed Mahoney said the club was happy to have the majority of its players test positive and believes the depth of the squad will be a huge factor in the battle for the 2022 premiership.
“It’s something you can’t control, so the teams with a full squad that have players ready to go will be best prepared,” Mahoney said.
“All of our players know that they could be called upon at any time of the year. It’s one of the things you can’t control because in one week we had 15 of us go down. I don’t know how Nathan Brown hasn’t got it - he’s a bit of a social butterfly. Everyone else is glad they have got it and got it out of the way. Hopefully, we don’t have to worry about it again. Everyone was going to get it eventually, it was just a matter of when.”
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