NRL Covid: Families to relocate to Queensland on Wednesday, but pets banned
Hundreds of NRL family members are heading to Queensland, but one star’s request to have his best mates join him has been denied.
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Parramatta captain Clint Gutherson has been like a dog with a bone trying to get his two best friends north of the border and into the NRL bubble.
The NRL is working tirelessly to reunite players with their family members in the three Queensland hubs, with loved ones expected to start 14-days quarantine on the Gold Coast late this week.
But one beloved family member won’t be allowed to cross the border - the family pet.
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It’s ‘ruff’ news for Gutherson, who now has to spend the next two months without his two young dogs.
“I‘ve been pushing hard to get the dogs up here, I’ve been on the phone for a number of hours to our football manager to get them up here but look, I’m quite disappointed they are not going to be able to join the bubble,” Gutherson said.
“They will be with mum and dad, I‘m sure mum and dad will spoil them.”
Around 500 family members of partners were sent for Covid testing first thing on Monday morning and will now travel to Queensland on Wednesday.
The NRL had received initial approval to fly partners and children up last weekend but those plans were delayed after the Queensland government requested more information about the relocation.
The family members will then join one of three hubs in the Gold Coast, Brisbane or Sunshine Coast once the 14-day quarantine is complete.
“Dear Players, Officials & Families, thank you for your patience over the last few days. I’m delighted to inform you, that as promised, we will be able to reunite you with your family in Queensland soon,” NRL CEO Andrew Abdo said in a letter to families on Monday night.
“The Queensland Government has this evening approved our application to relocate Sydney based families to the Gold Coast.
Your flights will leave from Sydney this Wednesday.”
While Eels players might have to wait a little longer before getting cosy with their families, they will spend this week getting up close and personal to Thursday night’s opponent, the Canberra Raiders.
The Eels and Raiders are bunkered down in the same hub on the Gold Coast.
"Their right next door to us in our team room, we've probably seen them five or six times this morning already … it's just the way it goes,” Gutherson said.
“It was Souths against Bulldogs [on Sunday] night and they're in the same bubble here, you just have to put up with it.
“You'd rather not see the opposition the same week but that's the way it is.”
For the Eels a win not only earns their side bubble bragging rights but the chance to jump the queue in the buffet line, one of the places players cross paths with their weekend enemies.
"We'll probably be on the same bus to the game … so it will probably get weirder. We just have to worry about being on the right side of the scoreboard and we'll get the food first at the buffet,” Gutherson laughed.
500 NRL partners, children sent for Covid tests
NRL partners and children wanting to join the relocation to Queensland will undergo Covid tests on Monday.
The NRL is still hopeful of getting family members into Queensland by the end of the week.
This development comes as the governing body continues to work with the Queensland Government to complete all necessary paperwork.
If all goes to plan the aim is to have families travel as early as Wednesday.
It is anticipated a total of about 500 partners and children will board the chartered flights north when they get the go-ahead.
They will then have to spend two weeks in hotel quarantine before being allowed to join the playing groups in Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast.
More to come
Roosters vow to get on with job — for now
Roosters coach Trent Robinson has opened up on the “difficult” individual emotions now confronting NRL players locked away from their families in Queensland.
It comes after the NRL had to inform the clubs on Thursday night that the Queensland Government now won’t allow the players’ families from Sydney Covid hot spots immediate entry into the state.
The NRL was initially planning to send a touring party of more than 500 partners and family members to Queensland on Saturday on charter flights as part of the NRL’s massive relocation exercise.
However that plan was thrown into chaos on Thursday night when the clubs were informed about the updated situation and they then had to pass on the news to the players.
Robinson conceded: “It was a bit difficult last night, obviously telling the players and the players having to tell their families.”
But he also vowed that his Roosters would put their personal situations to the side and “get on with the show” so they can “continue to offer the livelihoods that we do to our families”.
As it stood on Friday, Melbourne Storm families were given permission to move with the team to Queensland immediately and it is expected partners and families from the Canberra and Newcastle clubs may be next to make the shift.
But the trouble for the players and the families from the Sydney based teams and also the Warriors who were based on the Central Coast is that this has now turned into a political hot potato and no one really knows how long it could drag on.
The expectation is that the families could make it to Queensland by the end of next week but at this point that is not guaranteed.
Robinson did not want to get into a hypothetical about if it would be sustainable to keep the competition up and running if this situation continued for the long term.
The NRL initially thought the process would be that they could apply for group exemptions on a team-by-team basis for the travelling family members.
But the governing body will now be required to lodge individual paperwork for every single person planning to head north which is just a massive logistical exercise.
Robinson conceded it was difficult to say how players may have reacted to the relocation exercise had they known their partners and families could be locked out for potentially an extended period.
While the initial plan is to keep the teams in Queensland for at least a month, there is also a very real possibility the rest of the season could be played out of Queensland.
“There is lots of different stories,” Robinson explained.
“People have had to ask for time off work.
“Partners are pregnant and whether they are going to come up or not, in early pregnancy, late pregnancy, there is lots of different stories.
“And then two week goodbyes, two month goodbyes for some people.
“There is just all individual stories. A lot of the decisions were made on the proviso of that (that the families would follow).
“But that has shifted.
“We know the last couple of years that every day (during Covid) is a different story.
“We just have to deal with it.
“Simply, we just have to deal with it and deal with our little family unit and the emotion … for people to promise partners or families or kids that they are going to see their dad or mum in a couple of weeks and that that may not happen is difficult.
“But then we also know that to continue to offer the livelihoods that we do to our families we have to work and that’s only possible on a grand scale in Queensland at the moment.
“It is hard with all different stories emotionally but we have to get on with the show.”
He said the NRL had been “really open” but added “I guess it is just disappointing that what was said to the guys at the start of the week isn’t going to happen at the end of the week. That is the only tough thing.”
How it happened: Queensland lockout NRL families
The Queensland Government has denied access to the family members of Sydney-based players after pulling the pin on an intended charter flight on Saturday.
The NRL were told late on Thursday that they will not be able to fill the plane with partners and children of players who left for Queensland on Wednesday.
Club bosses were told the devastating news in a phone hook-up on Thursday night after the NRL spent the past few days organising and arranging travel schedules.
It is understood the Queensland Government have told the NRL they want more information and need a bit more time to consider allowing people from greater Sydney into the state.
The plan was for the families to spend two weeks in quarantine in two separate Gold Coast resorts on Saturday before joining their players in their respective bubbles to ease the pressure of the mass relocation.
That is now all up in the air.
NRL boss Andrew Abdo wrote to clubs and family members on Thursday to deliver the shattering news that the Queensland Government ‘will not provide an exemption’.
“It means you will not be travelling as planned on Saturday,” Abdo wrote. “It does not mean you will not be able to reach Queensland. The government would now like more individual information and more information about our quarantine facility and Covid-safe plans before they approve our submission.
“We are hopeful you will make it to the Gold Coast within a week. Over the coming days we will be working day and night to prove the information required on our quarantine arrangements to ensure the Queensland community remain safe and healthy.
“I can’t pretend to know how disappointed you are but you have our word that we will do everything we can to have you in Queensland by the end of next week.”
The NRL remain hopeful family members of Newcastle and Canberra will be cleared to fly out on Saturday given they are not coming from hot spot areas.
“We will do everything we can to get you on to the Gold Coast on Saturday,” Abdo said of those family members from outside greater Sydney. “Given the border is not currently closed to you. We will speak to you directly about our progress”
The about-face by the Queensland Government could prove to be problematic for the game after many players only agreed to leave for Queensland on the proviso they would eventually be joined by their family members in two weeks.
St George Illawarra star Ben Hunt’s family had undergone the mandatory Covid testing on Thursday ahead of their expected departure.
“Also do you know what to pack when you’re leaving everything for potentially 2+ months. Asking for a friend …” his wife Bridget joked on Instagram.
Others who had been expected to leave on Saturday included South Sydney veteran Benji Marshall’s wife Zoe and their children, Reece Walsh’s partner Freda Puru and their child, and Parramatta star Reagan Campbell-Gillard’s partner Alira Hoskin.
It comes after the unexpected relocation of the Melbourne Storm out of Victoria and into Queensland, which has forced the NRL into organising a mini Magic Round on the Gold Coast that will end with five games in three days at Cbus Super Stadium.
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