NRL 2020: Wests Tigers and Penrith Panthers players sent for COVID-19 tests
Panthers and Tigers players have been sent for COVID-19 tests following the outbreak in southwest Sydney as the Queensland government cracks down on NSW arrivals.
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Seven players and coaching staff members from two Sydney clubs have been forced to undergo COVID-19 testing under a directive from the NRL.
NRL players who live in NSW coronavirus hotspots and are named to play against a Queensland side will have to undertake regular testing before they are cleared to take the field.
It’s understood Penrith, who take on North Queensland on Sunday, also sent one player and one staff member for testing on Thursday.
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Five Wests Tigers players and staff members were also tested.
Star Tigers players David Nofoaluma and Josh Aloiai, who were named to take on the Broncos tonight, face a nervous wait for their results which should be available on Friday morning at the latest.
“COVID test completed. Great stuff by PVL and @NRL taking all measures for the safety of our players and the game,” Tigers winger Nofoaluma tweeted.
It’s understood Nofoaluma and Aloiai attended Thursday’s captain’s run but left immediately after they were notified by the NRL they needed to undergo testing.
The seven who were sent for testing all live in the Liverpool/Campbelltown area, which has emerged as a coronavirus hotspot after a cluster was identified at the Crossroads Hotel in Casula.
COVID Test completed ✅. Great stuff by PVL and @NRL taking all measures for the safety of our players and the game.
— David Nofoaluma (@DNofoaluma) July 16, 2020
“They‘re following protocols and have gone straight to testing,” Tigers coach Michael Maguire revealed on Thursday morning.
“Once we heard that we needed to get tested, they jumped in the cars and went.
“We‘ll get the results back on that pretty soon.”
Neither Nofoaluma or Aloiai displayed any symptoms and had passed the daily temperature and symptoms checks when they arrived at training on Thursday morning.
Development player Zac Cini and coaching staff member Simon Dwyer, who also live in the affected region, were also sent for testing.
Maguire said he is expecting COVID-19 testing to become a regular procedure as the game fights to protect itself from the virus and any potential shutdown of the competition.
“I‘m sure those sorts of things will continue to happen [across the game] for a period of time. We understand the world we’re living in at the moment and we’ve got to do due diligence in making sure the game is safe and everyone is safe,” he said.
“One thing we‘ve shown in the game is that we have to do what is needed to keep the game going,” he added. ”We’re very fortunate that the game is up and about; Peter [V’landys] has done a great job with his team to get the game to where it is.
“It‘s giving everyone something on a weekend to watch and enjoy so we’ve got to do everything possible to keep it going.”
A total of 19 players live in the Liverpool/Campbelltown area, where a coronavirus hotspot has emerged in Casula, and will be tested regularly to protect Queensland based players from the risk of infection.
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was concerned about the spike in COVID-19 cases in NSW and Victoria and had considered forcing the Broncos, Cowboys and Titans into quarantine after this weekend’s matches – a move that would have thrown the competition into disarray.
Testing every three days would also prevent the three Sunshine state club’s from being moved to Sydney in a bid to complete the season.
Palaszczuk and ARLC Chairman Peter V‘landys held talks on Thursday morning and decided the regular testing of the NSW players in hot spots would be enough to protect Queensland players from transmission of the virus – for now.
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Peter V’landys has written to Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk requesting an exemption for players in COVID-19 hot spots to be free to travel to Queensland despite new travel restrictions, while the NRL boss revealed a Queensland hub would be “very unlikely”.
As the AFL announced more games and players would be moved to the Sunshine State, the NRL were on Tuesday night trying to nail down exactly how many players were impacted by the hard line stance of the Queensland government with officials confident the number was a handful.
The NRL are hopeful the original stance Queensland took to open up its borders for the game to resume in May when infection rates were higher will remain in place despite growing a bump in COVID-19 transmissions.
ARL chairman V’landys wrote to Palaszczuk on Tuesday to gain certainty after the Queensland government declared southwest Sydney suburbs Liverpool and Campbelltown COVID-19 hot spots, banning people from those areas from entering Queensland after midday on Tuesday.
Players and staff may be asked to move out of their homes if the Queensland government rejects the NRL’s letter.
No NSW team will travel to Queensland this week however Penrith and Manly have Round 11 away matches against North Queensland and the Titans next week.
The NRL quickly reintroduced their strict biosecurity measures as of midnight to try to mitigate any potential harm to its players.
V’landys said “you have to be proactive”.
“We were onto this on Monday,” V’landys said.
“You have to stay a step ahead. If you don’t, it’ll hit you. You want to duck the hits. We are going to continual to be proactive and agile.
“The importance of the health players and the community is paramount.”
If the situation worsens the NRL will consider relocating its entire competition to either NSW or Queensland.
Playing games in the Northern Territory has also been spoken about however moving the four clubs located in Queensland to NSW is the preferred option should matches need to be centralised.
They remain confident matches will go ahead as scheduled.
“Taking four teams (Broncos, Cowboys, Titans and Melbourne) into NSW would be a lot easier than taking nine teams to Queensland, but we have re-introduced the biosecurity measures in NSW, not in Queensland,” he said.
“We have put the players back in the bubbles and we believe that will give the Queensland government comfort that we are taking this seriously and the security has been tightened to allow us to continue to travel.
“We travel to Queensland and travel back straight away for games so it’s not like we are staying in Queensland.
“Players (in NSW) won’t be allowed to go to cafes and hotels. We had relaxed the biosecurity measures when the community infection was reduced in both states, but now we have tightened that up again.
“It’s one of the options to (take the league) to Queensland – but very unlikely.”
As of midnight players and staff within the club’s 55-person Project Apollo bubble were under severe restrictions. This means players and staff are again banned from cafes, restaurants, pubs, beaches and golf courses to avoid community contact during the current spike in COVID-19 cases. Restrictions on home visitors have returned as the NRL cracks down on its biosecurity protocols as fears of a COVID-19 outbreak in NSW heighten. The reintroduced rules only impact NSW teams.
The measures will be put in place for at least two weeks after a stack of emergency meetings occurred on Tuesday between the commission, biosecurity experts and club bosses.
The NRL will await guidance from the NSW government about any potential restrictions on crowds for this rounds matches. The Tigers match against the Warriors at Campbelltown Stadium on July 31 is in doubt.
NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo said keeping the competition going was a “big priority”.
“We knew this year was going to be challenging,” Abdo said. “I can only talk positively about the way in which the discipline the clubs and players have shown in getting us this far.
“Regardless of where you live, the players adhering to a set of protocols protects them from community transmissions.”
Abdo confirmed players still need to be vaccinated in order to enter Queensland. Manly and Penrith were among the clubs who had at least one unvaccinated player. Penrith young gun Charlie Staines – who scored four tries on debut – will miss this week’s match after breaking the NRL’s biosecurity rules.
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Originally published as NRL 2020: Wests Tigers and Penrith Panthers players sent for COVID-19 tests
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