NRL 2022: State of Origin camps under threat as nervous NRL clubs raise Covid alarm

The game is buzzing that Covid cases have emerged from the recent All Stars camps, leading to renewed concern from clubs over the need for week-long camps for State of Origin this year.

NSW Origin stars Jarome Luai and Brian To'o. Picture: Luke Marsden

The traditional week-long State of Origin camp is under threat from nervous club CEOs who fear their highest-profile players will be at a greater risk of contracting or spreading Covid.

The development has emerged amid a historic move by the NSWRL to protect the game’s biggest stars by revealing the days of players rooming together is over.

For the first time, every player chosen for the NSW Blues this year will be given their own room. Players will also be tested daily.

Stream every game of every round of the 2022 NRL Telstra Premiership Season Live & Ad-Break Free During Play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-days free now.

But it may not be enough for anxious NRL clubs, who believe that the normal seven-day Origin preparation should be shortened in a bid to decrease the risk of teams being decimated mid-year by an outbreak of Covid-positive players.

The alarm has been raised amid widespread discussion throughout the game that last week’s NRL Indigenous and Maori All Stars camps may have been a contributing factor in several players going down with Covid this week.

Jarome Luai and Brian To'o in NSW Origin camp last year. Picture: Luke Marsden

There have been suggestions that as many as five players who were part of the All Stars camps may have contracted Covid.

The clubs know it’s virtually impossible to prove the source of a Covid infection, but believe by limiting the amount of time players spend in camp together, the possibility of contracting or spreading Covid will be diminished.

Only last month, several club CEOs had asked the NRL to consider shortening the week-long All Stars camp in a bid to avoid losing players through the current trial period.

The possibility of a Covid outbreak during the Origin period, at a time in the season where depth in rosters is always tested, is of serious concern for clubs and coaches.
Raiders halfback Sam Williams withdrew from his club’s trial match against the Roosters on Friday night after testing positive to Covid.
Fellow half Matt Frawley had been rooming with Williams at the Sydney hotel the Raiders were staying at and needed to also pull out of the trial as a close-contact.

Sam Williams withdrew from the Raidres’ trial on Friday night after returning a positive RAT test. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Raiders CEO Don Furner told The Sunday Telegraph that his club would look towards abandoning rooming players together in the future.

“The NRL led the way in 2020 and 2021 with keeping the game going, but this year will be different with players pulling out on the Friday and Saturday of games because of Covid,” Furner said. “It will become the new norm.

“We’ll take lessons from the trial and look at everything going forward, including separate rooms and maybe travelling in and out on the day of the game.

“As the NRL has said, the protocols of daily testing and the like is about minimising the disruptions to the schedule and teams not fielding 10 or 11 players.”

The last-minute team changes led Raiders coach Ricky Stuart to shuffle his line-up like a deck of cards.
“We got a very quick lesson in [what it is like] to have a positive Covid test pre-game,” Stuart said. “You just have to be flexible and get past the disruptions.

“Jarrod Croker played centre and then some five-eighth, Charnze played some time at No.9, Adam played time at No.9, wingers and fullbacks swapped around - it’s really important.

“It’s where Covid has taken the game.’’

NSWRL CEO David Trodden said the state body had yet to discuss scrapping the traditional week-long Origin camp for NSW.

However, Trodden said the NSWRL board had proven over the past two years they would remain agile and open to last-minute change.

“Twice last year our arrangements totally changed within 24 hours of the camp starting,” Trodden said. “Two things I can tell you we’ll be doing is we’ll be testing players on a daily basis. The key issue for us is, if there is an issue, it is contained very quickly.

“The other fundamental change we’re going to make is the fact that, traditionally, players are in shared rooms. Almost definitely this year the players will all be staying in single rooms.

“We also know, the situation remains very fluid in regards to a whole lot of other precautions we might take.’’