NRL Covid news Round 20 reschedule: Andrew Abdo lifts lid on ’toughest day of my career’
Andrew Abdo, Peter V’landys and co pulled off a miracle by saving the NRL season. Here’s a blow-by-blow account of how events unfolded.
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The call arrived at 9.15am.
The NRL was off, an early casualty of Queensland’s swift lockdown.
Make no mistake, it was a call that had shocking ramifications, putting at risk not just the round but the entire NRL season.
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“We didn’t think we had a pulse,” NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo said.
The NRL boss is used to dealing with crises but even he described it as the “toughest 12 hours of my career.”
ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys, along with Abdo and his NRL executive team, pulled off a logistical miracle by convincing a Covid-rattled Queensland Government that rugby league could continue this weekend.
“Without exaggerating, it was definitely one of the toughest 12 hours of my career,” Abdo said. “I don’t want to trivialise other things that have happened in my life but this was tough. It was a hell of a day.
“We went through all of the emotions. In a crisis, peoples’ true colours come out. We are talking 12 hours here of absolute planning, co-ordination, feedback, revisions, schedules, protocols, logistics, and then we kicked into communication mode around nine o’clock.
“Let me be clear. For the whole morning, we didn’t think we had a pulse to get through this round. But when you have a unified goal, everyone comes together and you can get stuff done that others might think impossible.
“A lot of determination and innovation went into Saturday. We were very hopeful we would get approval but, to be honest, it went from a nought per cent chance at 9am before slowly the probability began increasing.”
This was a day of drama like few before in this Covid era.
Here is how it unfolded:
9.15am: A shocked Abdo receives a phone call from the Queensland Premier’s Office revealing all sporting matches – including NRL – had been banned for the weekend.
9.25am: Deeply concerned, Abdo contacts ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys.
9.30am: Abdo calls his NRL executive team to inform them of the unfolding drama before contacting the code’s broadcast partners, Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany and Nine chief executive Mike Sneesby.
9.45am: Queensland chief health Minister Jeanette Young makes it official by announcing at a media conference: “There will be no football matches. So, no community sport, no professional sport, nothing for the next three days.” NRL management monitors the press conference to gain more information.
10am: Souths players leave Gold Coast Airport for a flight to Rockhampton to play St George Illawarra.
10.15am: Dragons players are in their team room at the Novotel, Southbank, about to watch a final preparation video before boarding a bus to Brisbane Airport for a Rockhampton flight.
10.25am: NRL officials contact all clubs instructing players to return to their hotel rooms and “not go anywhere”.
10.30am: NRL management contact Souths officials — who are mid-air on a Virgin charter flight — revealing the game had been postponed and that the team must return immediately. Players are also told to stay on the plane in Rockhampton, protecting the players and local community.
10.40am: Dragons general manager of football Ben Haran interrupts the team meeting and tells players to “sit tight” but prepare for game postponement.
10.50am: Melbourne Storm players, out relaxing in Noosa during the morning, are told via the team’s WhatsApp group to return to the team hotel immediately.
10.55am: Canberra CEO Don Furner hears of Queensland’s Covid drama and contacts NRL head of football, elite competitions, Graham Annesley. Furner is asked to contact the ACT Government to determine whether games could be switched to Canberra.
11am: Sitting in their Sunshine Coast accommodation, the Panthers were told the Suncorp Stadium blockbuster against Melbourne had been postponed. Players were given an hour’s notice to prepare for a possible flight to Townsville to play the Storm. That never eventuated.
11.10am: Furner is told the Queensland Government would not allow players back into their state if they shift to Canberra.
11.15am: Newcastle players are told their game against Canberra in Brisbane is now in doubt and to assemble within 15 minutes inside their team room at Novotel Twin Waters, Sunshine Coast. Players read on social media that the game could be moved to Canberra or Townsville.
11.30am: The Virgin charter flight carrying Souths player leaves Rockhampton for Gold Coast.
Noon: Haran tells Dragons players that the game has been delayed. Players return to their hotel rooms and change out of their official team uniform.
1pm: V’landys contacts Delany and Fox Sports executive director Steve Crawley about altering the Panthers-Storm game on Saturday — which was exclusive to Fox — to 4pm on Sunday, meaning Nine and Fox will share the telecast.
1.30pm: NRL management discuss other scheduling changes which includes giving Newcastle the earliest Sunday game because the Knights have the shortest turnaround and Souths the late Sunday match because the Rabbitohs had travelled five hours on planes to Rockhampton on Saturday.
2.15pm: Rabbitohs players arrive back at Coolangatta Airport.
2.25pm: After receiving NRL updates throughout the morning, Storm players — still inside their rooms — are told the game against Penrith has now been postponed. Some players were having their pre-game afternoon naps.
2.40pm: Storm general manager of football Frank Ponissi informs players that Level 4 protocols had been reintroduced.
3pm: V’landys holds top-level discussions with Queensland Government authorities, who say they will consider games proceeding providing the NRL draws up new, beefed-up biosecurity protocols.
3pm-4pm: NRL receives ongoing advice from NRL’s biosecurity expert David Heslop, who sits on the Project Apollo committee.
5pm: NRL revises draw and reduces the number of football club staff who can attend weekend games.
6pm: Abdo and his team complete the request from Queensland Government and submit a preliminary document outlining tougher Covid protocols for players.
7pm: Queensland Government offer feedback and then accept NRL’s new Level 4 protocols, agreeing three games could now be played on Sunday and a further two on Monday.
7.45pm: Raiders coach Ricky Stuart and club football manager Matt Ford contact Furner, still based in Canberra, seeking clarification around the revised kick-off time so team management can inform players to help with sleeping patterns inside the Mercure Gold Coast Resort.
9pm: NRL officials, including Abdo, Annesley, NRL general manager of elite competitions Jason King and NRL head of partnerships, Jaymes Boland-Rudder, meet with club CEO’s via Zoom hook-up to nail down Sunday’s revised match schedule and confirm protocols.
10pm-2am: NRL staff complete final, extensive and detailed 100-page protocols document for Queensland Government which was formally submitted early on Sunday morning.
2am: Abdo and his staff finally go to bed.
Raiders CEO Don Furner said the work of NRL staff was incredible.
“Those blokes at the NRL, they are working 24 hours at the moment,” Furner said. “People don’t know the hours they are putting in. They are working around-the-clock to keep the game going which keeps us, ultimately, all employed. That’s the reality.
“We have all seen how much work they have done. They are saving the clubs, saving the sport and saving the revenue streams we need to pay the wages. It’s been a tremendous effort from them.”
Abdo added: “We had to look after the wellbeing of the clubs and players. Everyone rallied, from club CEOs, to coaches, footy staff and players. I put out a Zoom meeting request for the club CEOs without any notice and within minutes everyone had jumped on and the communication flowed.”
NRL reschedule leaves some clubs short
— Paul Crawley
The NRL plan to forge ahead with next week’s round 21 without change to the current schedule despite forced changes to this weekend’s draw.
That will mean clubs playing on Sunday and Monday will have deal with one less day to prepare.
It will mean the Newcastle Knights will only have four days between Sunday’s game against Canberra to get ready to take on the Brisbane Broncos on Thursday night.
NRL clubs have been warned that the players need to continue to adhere to strict Covid protocols and be adaptable to change from here on.
It comes after Queensland recorded nine new Covid-19 cases on Sunday after parts of the southeast of the state were forced into a snap three-day lockdown.
Queensland’s Deputy Premier Steven Miles reported that it was the most number of community infections in Queensland in almost 12 months.
The NRL has received tremendous praise from the clubs for its ability to work with government officials to get the remainder of this weekend’s round completed after the extraordinary events of Saturday.
The previously scheduled Saturday matches has now become a Super Sunday with three games to be played at Suncorp Stadium followed by a Monday double header.
The Sunday triple header without crowds will kick off with the Knights v Raiders at 1.50pm.
That will be followed by the grand final rematch between the Storm and Panthers at 4.05pm that will now be televised on Fox Sports and Channel 9.
The final match between the Rabbitohs and Dragons will start at 6.25pm.
Then on Monday the first game between the Bulldogs and Titans is scheduled for 6pm with the final game of the round between the Sharks and Sea Eagles at 8.05pm.
The NRL will then await directions from the Queensland government to see if the lockdown will end on Tuesday before determining where next weekend’s game will be played.
But sources have suggested the schedule won’t change.
Partners and family members of players that are currently in quarantine are due to rejoin the players on Wednesday.
It is unknown what further changes to restrictions could come into play.
One source suggested NRL teams may need to continue playing out of one location for the entire round next weekend.
That would set up a Magic Round type event at the one stadium although teams would need to be transported in and out before and immediately after matches, and crowds will continue to be dependent on government restrictions.
Chaos strikes after Queensland snap call
The government’s decision led to the immediate suspension of the Rabbitohs-Dragons clash in Rockhampton and a double-header at Suncorp Stadium between Newcastle and Canberra and the Storm-Penrith grand-final rematch.
Incredibly, Souths players had just arrived in Rockhampton on Saturday afternoon when the Rabbitohs were ordered to reboard their private charter flight to return to their Gold Coast hub immediately.
The latest Covid drama suggests the NRL premiership is on borrowed time but V’landys scuppered claims the 2021 season is in jeopardy following crisis talks with Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
“There is no threat to the competition,” V’landys told News Corp. “I am confident the game is not under threat and I am confident the games will continue.”
Clubs were alerted to the Saturday crisis when a meeting invite in their email titled “Queensland health crisis” lobbed about 11am on Saturday.
At that stage, Abdo was still hopeful matches would still be played.
He told club bosses of the NRL’s three contingencies, which included playing in front of empty stadiums, flying teams out of the 11 local government areas which were listed as hot spots to a regional area or postponing games.
Newcastle and Canberra were told to prepare to fly out to Townsville in the hope the match could still be played on Saturday but that never eventuated.
As news broke, the Rabbitohs had already taken off for their match in Rockhampton against St George Illawarra. The Dragons were told to stay in their Brisbane hotel room while they awaited word.
When South Sydney players landed they were not allowed to leave the plane.
They waited about 30 minutes before being told to head back to the Gold Coast with their match postponed.
The Warriors players had their bags backed as they were due to move to a Surfers Paradise hotel but were told they had to stay at the Mercure on the Gold Coast.
So quickly were they told to board a bus — that didn’t end up leaving — the coaching staff and players sprinted from the field, leaving training pads and cones sprawled across the ground.
NRL family hub drama
—Fatima Kdouh
The NRL family hub was not without its own drama on Saturday afternoon with fire crews rushing to the Surfers Paradise hotel.
Hotel management notified families of an alarm being set off in the building.
Emergency crews rushed to the hotel at around 4.40pm to investigate what triggered the alarm.
The 500 family members of players and club stuff, who are in a 14-day quarantine, avoided a mass evacuation after the fire department confirmed the case was a “false alarm”.
Hotel management confirmed the false alarm was triggered by “shower steam” which set off a fire alarm in a bedroom.
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