Coronavirus: Fans fret as NRL grand final hangs in the balance

Sunday’s NRL decider could be postponed if Brisbane’s Covid-19 outbreak worsens. At best a pared-back crowd will be let in.

Illustration: Johannes Leak

Sunday’s NRL grand final could be postponed if the Covid-19 outbreak in Brisbane worsens.

At best the game will be played in front of a pared-back crowd of 40,000 fans in Brisbane, as restrictions are tightened to combat the Covid-19 cases.

ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys said on Thursday all options were on the table, including a deferral.

“We’re confident it will proceed on Sunday and have every confidence in the Queensland government,’’ Mr V’landys told The Australian. “But we have contingency plans and so nothing is off the table.’’

The options appear to be playing the game in front of a reduced crowd at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, moving the game to Townsville or deferring the game.

In a day of chaos for the NRL and the Queensland government, the discovery of six new infections forced capacity at the sold-out Suncorp Stadium to be cut by 25 per cent, costing 13,000 ticketholders their seats.

Panthers supporters Jordan Kelly and Amie White with Max, 3, Theo, 4, and Sadie, 3, near their home in Brisbane on Thursday. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys may have some tough decisions to make over the NRL Grand Final. Picture. Phil Hillyard

Like the rest of rugby league’s vast fan base in its heartland of NSW and Queensland, Amie White and her family were holding their breath, hoping they still have seats for the big game. But the signs are ominous, with the NRL also weighing options to further slash attendance to 50 per cent.

NRL sources emphasised the decision was in the hands of Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who clinched a $4.6m deal to shift the grand final away from Sydney for the first time in the history of the unified code.

A source close to the crisis talks between the NRL and the state government, which were still under way late on Thursday, said all contingencies had been laid out in the contract that delivered the grand final to Brisbane.

“The decision on what happens to crowd numbers is entirely one for the government of Queensland,” the insider said.

“The worst-case scenario would be for the game to go ahead in front of no one at all.”

On Thursday, as the state’s Covid-19 emergency deepened, the Brisbane ground’s capacity was slashed by a quarter under level-two Covid restrictions, leaving 13,000 ticketholders in the lurch. On the announced basis that the last to buy seats would be the first to miss out, Ms White, 39, fears her family will have to settle for watching the hotly anticipated clash between the Penrith Panthers and South Sydney Rabbitohs from home, rather than in the famed Suncorp cauldron.

The decision on the NRL grand final is in the hands of Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who clinched a $4.6m deal to shift the game away from Sydney. Picture: Dan Peled

As a diehard Penrith fan, she stumped up more than $1000 on Monday to secure seven tickets and realise a lifelong ambition to attend the NRL’s big dance.

“I understand we have to keep everyone safe but we have been counting down the days to the grand final,” she said from the family home in Redland Bay, southeast of Brisbane.

“We would be devastated if we don’t get to go. I just keep checking my emails hoping it is not us. We were planning on taking the family to the grand final in Sydney last year but we couldn’t because of coronavirus restrictions.”

Penrith Panthers star Jarome Luai at training in Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Picture: Getty Images

The confirmation of six new Covid-19 cases not only reduced the Suncorp Stadium crowd from 52,000 to 39,000 but ruled out a fallback plan to move the game to Townsville when a case emerged in the northern city.

Ticketholders were on Thursday clamouring for information on who would miss out after Ms Palaszczuk revealed the number of those infected with the virulent Delta variant of Covid-19 had increased from six to 12 overnight.

She would not be drawn on whether she herself would attend the grand final, assuming it goes ahead. But the Premier pledged to lock down the state capital were this recommended by chief health officer Jeannette Young.

Rejecting criticism that the state government had prioritised the money-spinning NRL grand final over public health, when Brisbane had previously been sent into lockdown on the basis of a single Covid case, the Premier said: “Let me make it very clear that the health of Queenslanders comes first. As soon as Dr Young says we need to go into lockdown, we will.”

Rabbitohs players train this week. Picture: Nigel Hallett

Also on tenterhooks was Gold Coast man Paul Morgan, who wept after his team, the Panthers, knocked reigning premiers Melbourne Storm out of the finals last weekend. “I am just holding onto hope that we have not been axed. I would be heartbroken honestly,” he said. “We paid $200 each for a ticket and we are big fans, really big fans.”

This week’s emergence of the virus in southeast Queensland – despite Ms Palaszczuk closing the state border to Covid-ravaged NSW, Victoria and the ACT – threatens to blow up the deal she struck with the NRL to deliver the grand final to Brisbane.

The hosting rights were clinched after the NRL declared it wanted the game staged in front of a full house that could not be delivered in Sydney. Dr Young insisted it was safe for the reduced crowd of 39,000 to gather in Suncorp Stadium because the game was ticketed, and fans would be required to wear face masks.