Tom Opacic likely to be barred from attending his brother’s funeral

NRL star Tom Opacic is set to be barred from attending the funeral of his brother Jake, who was allegedly murdered in a crash near a Gold Coast correctional centre last week.

NRL star Tom Opacic faces more heartbreak after the bizarre death of his brother in an alleged prison love triangle showdown near a Gold Coast jail, with Sydney’s worsening Covid crisis set to see him barred from attending the Queensland funeral next week.

Jake Opacic, 28, was killed in a motorbike crash near Numinbah Correctional Centre last week after going to the jail for the release of his girlfriend and allegedly getting into a verbal stoush with her ex and his friend.

Both men have been charged with Jake’s murder, with police alleging his motorcycle was deliberately struck by their vehicle.

Jake Opacic, 28, died in a motorcycle crash near the Numinbah Correctional Centre last week. Picture: Supplied

Sources say Tom Opacic, a former Brisbane Bronco and North Queensland Cowboy who now plays for the Parramatta Eels, has applied for NRL and Queensland Health exemptions to attend the funeral next week.

But he faces an uphill battle given Sydney’s Covid catastrophe and concerns over repeated breaches of the NRL’s biosecurity bubble by players.

The Eels are due to play the Gold Coast Titans at Robina’s Cbus Stadium next Friday night but under bubble rules, Opacic would only be allowed to fly in for the game on a charter plane with teammates, catch a bus to the ground and return to Sydney soon after the final whistle.

Tom Opacic is unlikely to be granted an exemption to leave the NRL bubble and attend his brother’s funeral. Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

Sources say the NRL and Queensland Health would be extremely unlikely to grant him an exemption to attend the funeral as Sydney’s Covid outbreak worsens.

The NRL is also conscious of the biosecurity bubble’s fragility after Covid protocols were recklessly flouted by a raft of St George Dragons players and Maroons star Jai Arrow, who was sent packing from the Queensland camp this week after sneaking a woman into his Gold Coast hotel room.

Opacic is set to become the latest in a string of grieving relatives to be refused permission to visit a dying loved one or attend a funeral in Queensland because of hard line Covid restrictions

The Palaszczuk Government came under fire this week over delays in granting an exemption to Cairns man, whose mother died in Brisbane while he was stuck in hotel quarantine in Sydney.