NRL players to face strict pre-game health checks

With players facing game-day temperature checks upon arrival, NRL clubs will be forced to keep fringe players outside the grounds in case swift replacements are needed for those who don’t pass the test.

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NRL clubs are preparing to have players originally overlooked for the top 20-man squad wait outside grounds — possibly on team buses — as cover for any player ruled out late on game day due to COVID-19 protocols.

As part of strict NRL game day rules, every player will have his temperatures taken at the ground’s entrance gates on arrival.

It comes after the NRL released a detailed 60-page document to clubs on Monday afternoon detailing game-day protocols.

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The new schedule NRL clubs will have to follow.

The report, obtained by The Daily Telegraph, stipulates:

^ Players must pass a temperature check which records a temperature of 37.2c or less.

^ Individuals recording a temperature of between 37.3c and 37.4c must be directed to a designated safe area where they are isolated for 15 minutes. If the result is replicated they will not be allowed in the stadium;

^ Players must submit to – and pass – an individual temperature check which

records a temperature of 37.2c or less;

^ Ball must be cleaned every 10 minutes during the match by ball-persons;

^ All camera equipment is to be sanitised once installed at the venue. If production equipment can remain in a venue as opposed to being bumped in and out each week, this is encouraged;

^ The match day coach shall remain in the match day coach’s box for the duration of the match.

South Sydney players train behind a fence. Photo: AAP Image/Mark Evans

Grounds will be divided into “clean” and “dirty” zones, with the clean zones heavily policed, just like it has been for players since their return to training this month.

Clubs will have a squad of 20 players at each game, giving them three to choose from in case of a problem. Twenty-one will still be named each Tuesday before being cut by two, 24 hours before kick-off.

But clubs fear some star players could be ruled out with flu-like symptoms only an hour before kick-off. As a result, clubs will be permitted to carry 20 players but officials say that may not allow them to carry additional players in specialist positions, primarily the spine.

The late withdrawal of players would require replacement players to be close to the ground for a swift transition into the side.

That could mean players 21-32 travel to the ground and wait outside until the team is cleared medically fit to play. This scenario may be even more difficult to overcome for interstate sides on the road.

Jared Waerea-Hargreaves gets checked before Roosters training. Photo: Matt King/Getty Images)

Clubs admit those additional players cannot be far from the ground if a player is ruled out just 90 minutes to two hours before kick-off. Some may even be told to wait on the team bus.

Players would not have sufficient time to travel from Cronulla or Bondi to Bankwest Stadium in an hour, Manly to Central Coast or Wollongong to Campbelltown.

“You have to think outside the square about what could possibly happen,” Panthers medical co-ordinator Craig Catterick said.

“You will have to say to players hold tight, you’re on standby. You could have two players with flu-like symptoms. The make-up of your team could change at the gate’s entrance.”

Each of the six venues in use will have specific operational matters, with clubs to discuss their match-day protocols, game-day staff, travel and flights, catering and media commitments.

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Only 20 players and 12 staff members — including coaches — are permitted from each club and must come from their pre-registered 50-person list. The 32 are the only ones allowed in the sanitised clean zone along with the match officials, a small amount of essential broadcast workers and game-day officials.

The dirty zone is for journalists, broadcast partners, cleaners and caterers. Anyone who enters the green zone must be screened.

“Players 1-20 are under the reality they are preparing to play but players, say 21 to 26, will have to be on standby should the flu rip through. And if the flu gets hold of a team, it can really do a job on you under the strict code we’re under now. In reality, the (reserve) players would have to be close by,” Catterick said.

The NRL will strictly enforce its clean zones at matches. Picture: AAP/Brendon Thorne

“Teams will rock up with their 20 players but if two or three of those 20 are stopped at the gate and told they can’t come in, you have to have other players on standby. Players 21 to 32 are on standby at any one time. There could be an occasion where players 21 or 22 are called in because players 17, 9 and 6 have been ruled out.

“If you lose one, six and nine through flu-like symptoms, there aren’t many teams that would carry a spare one, six and nine in their 20. There will be utility players but coaches may want a specialist.

“You’d have to have players close by if the need be. Going into the flu season, who knows what you could lose on game day. If two or three players aren’t feeling one-hundred per cent on game day morning then you’d want a couple of players on standby.

“What happens if you lose your head coach and orange shirt (chief on-field trainer) on game day? Does he go sit in his car and watch it on Foxtel? These are the contingency plans we are throwing up.

Cameron Munster has his temperature checked before training. Photo: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

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“We’re not complaining. You have to work within the rules to be playing. We’re fortunate it’s up and running. It’s not negativity – it’s the reality of the situation.”

Penrith will contact every player on game day morning to check whether any are suffering flu-like symptoms.

“We will get an oral update on them,” Catterick said. “If someone isn’t feeling 100 per cent, then we could tell the coach there is a potential issue.

“It will be tough for teams that fly in and fly out. You can only fly with 20 and if you lose a couple then you are stuck with what you’ve got. The Sydney-based sides will have an advantage in being able to call on players.”

Meanwhile, NRL head of football Graham Annesley said he was “very grateful” the referees had dropped their dispute with the governing body. Annesley and ARLC chairman Peter V’landys would have been among the high profile witnesses had the case gone ahead at the Fair Work Commission.

“At the end of the day it was the referees themselves who ended the dispute,” Annesley said.

“They didn’t want to be the focus on the days leading up the kick-off.”

Originally published as NRL players to face strict pre-game health checks