Origin 2021: NSW players forced to fly-in, drive-home on Origin III game day due to Covid

It’s just as well NSW clinched the Origin series in Brisbane last month as they won’t be able to let down their hair in Newcastle as the NRL gets ready to announce tough game day restrictions.

In what will be a dramatic anticlimax, NSW players will be driven directly home after State of Origin III, some not walking through their front doors until 5am.

Under strict Covid conditions, the NRL is planning on having players fly-in and drive-out on the same night in Newcastle next Wednesday.

Players – who remain in a Covid restrictive bubble - will leave their Kingscliff resort on game day and travel by bus to either Ballina or Gold Coast for a flight into Newcastle Airport at Williamtown.

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Blues players celebrate their series-clinching victory in Brisbane.

Another bus will then transport players straight to McDonald Jones for the game.

At full time, players will shower and comply with media commitments before then being driven – probably in hire or corporate cars – to their homes in and around Sydney. Players are accepting despite being denied the chance to celebrate a historic series win together.

Most players won’t arrive home until 3am but Dragons forward Tariq Sims – who lives in Shell Cove on the NSW south coast - faces a marathon car journey home.

“It will take five and a bit hours to get home,” Sims said. “Probably home around 5am. I will roll straight in and cook my girls brekky in the morning.

“We’d have to get cars home. They will organise cars and we will just disperse after the game. It will be a late finish but hopefully we can finish on a high and ride that high all the way home. It’s tough but people have it way tougher than us.

“If we can bring that little bit of excitement and escape for 80 minutes then that’s the sacrifice we need to make to bring a bit of happiness into people’s lives.”

NSW hooker Api Koroisau added: “Covid has us doing some weird things at the moment. If it has to be fly-in, drive-home then so be it.”

Brad Fittler and his team will be taken home in cars after the game on Wednesday.

The NRL could also decide to bus the team back to Sydney post-game and then arrange hire cars for the final leg to their homes. To retain the integrity of the bubble, players cannot use Ubers or taxis’ and must travel in hire cars or team buses.

While in camp at Kingscliff, the Blues cannot leave Peppers Resort. They are only permitted to move from their individual rooms to the team room, pool and gym.

Officials are trying to have a golf simulator moved into the team room to combat boredom, particularly on Saturday and Monday, scheduled days off for players. Players have also been playing cards.

“We addressed this as soon as we got into camp,” said NSW prop Junior Paulo.

“The protocols are there to be followed. Rules are rules. We have to do what it takes to get our game going.

“We’re pretty fortunate to still be in a job. Everyone is going through a tough time. To have the game at Newcastle in front of 20,000 fans will be something special.”

To avoid contact with the public, pool and gym sessions are being pre-planned to ensure resort guests are banned from using the facilities at the same time.

“It’s something we will have to adapt to it like everyone else does,” said NSW forward Dale Finucane.

Local fans who turned up to watch NSW train at Cudgen on Thursday were prevented from entering the ground. Most took photos on their mobile phones through the wire fence.

The families of most players will be unable to attend the game given they live in Covid lockdown areas including Greater Sydney, Central Coast, Blue Mountains, Shellharbour or Wollongong.

Mitch’s amazing bond with his iconic Origin grandma

Mitchell Moses finally has the chance to match his grandmother, who has something he doesn’t – an iconic Origin moment.

The most famous mother in Origin history, Barbara Elias ran onto the field following game one of the 1992 series to wipe blood from the head of her courageous son, Blues hooker Benny Elias.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal the special bond between new Blues halfback Mitch Moses and his much-loved grandmother, Barbara, who is battling dementia.

Barbara is under the daily care of Moses’ mum, Rhonda. Barbara lives in a specially designed granny flat behind Rhonda’s residence in Carlingford.

Moses often visits his mum and dad, John, before popping behind to check on Barbara.

While he wasn’t born when Barbara charged onto the field, Moses, 26, has often seen vision of the memorable Origin moment featuring his grandmother and uncle.

The famous moment from 1992. Picture: Anthony Weate

Elias, a former Balmain and kangaroos star, describes his sister as an “angel” and also spoke of Moses’ close relationship with Barbara.

“Mitch has a really special bond with his grandmother, he is over there visiting all the time,” Elias said. “When Mitch visits his mum and dad, he will also visit his grandmother out the back.

“They share a very special love. He adores her. Mitch is very committed to his grandmother. They are very close.

“Mitch saw the vision of his grandmother coming onto the field and wiping blood off his uncle when he was growing up. I wonder what he thought when he watched that?

Mitchell Moses is chasing his own iconic moment with the Blues. Picture: Toby Zerna

“Barbara is the jewel in the crown of our family. There’s no State of Origin for Mitch if it wasn’t for Barbara.

“Barbara is the most famous mum – and most recognised woman – in State of Origin history. Everyone remembers her wiping blood off me. There’s no State of Origin lady who is more famous.

“But Mum now has full dementia. She has for the past two to three years. My sister, Rhonda, Mitch’s mum, had devoted her life to looking after our most prized possession, our Mum, 24/7.

“Rhonda is the most selfless person I know. She is very shy and bashful, she’s a superstar, a gift from God. She will hate me praising her but I want to recognise her wonderful nature.

Rhonda even built a place specially to cater for mum, a granny flat out the back of their place.

“It was a special moment that night at the SFS which will last the rest of my life. She didn’t care about the result. She was just worried about her son’s health.

“I’m not sure how she defied the security and five-foot fence that night. There’s only one person in the world who could have done that and it’s my mum. I had a cut from ear to ear, there was blood everywhere. I caught some of Mel Meninga’s studs.”

Moses is one of 33 nephews and nieces. His father, John, is a Parramatta “fanatic”.

Elias hopes Barbara may still realise Moses’ Origin achievement.

Ben Elias after the incident. Picture: Geoff McLachlan

Ben Elias with Barbara.

“You never know, I can’t answer that. We hope so. We hope she knows what Mitchell has done,” Elias said. “I know Rhonda would have told her a million times in the past 24 hours.

“My dad – Mitch’s grandfather, Norm, passed away last year which was very sad. I can just picture him looking down from heaven toasting Mitch with a glass of scotch in one hand and a cigar in the other.”

The Eels playmaker edged out South Sydney’s Adam Reynolds for the NSW halfback spot and will enter NSW camp on Tuesday morning.

Elias has no doubt Moses will handle the pressure and intensity of Origin football.

“One-hundred per cent he will,” said Elias, who played 22 games for NSW between 1985 and 1994. “As a young kid, Origin was his dream, it was his destiny. He will be up to the task.

“Mitch has earned the right to have his name in NSW history alongside the likes of Mortimer, Sterling and Johns. He is 26 years old and about to join teammates who are the best in the game – life can’t get much better.”

NSW coach Brad Fittler added: “There are a few players at the moment who have come into the position but I felt having Mitch there and bringing Jack (Wighton) into five-eighth was the least disruptive.

“I have coached Mitch before (with Lebanon, 2017 World Cup), I’ve seen him in action and what I saw was a quality player who was a great leader.”