After 67 days, footy is finally back

Rugby league’s bosses will watch the game’s return from their lounge rooms as players ready to let rip.

Parramatta will take on Brisbane as NRL returns following a 67-day hiatus Picture: AAP

NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo will take a leaf from his boss’s book on Thursday night. Rather than being at Suncorp Stadium to watch rugby league’s return, he will be at home on the couch with his wife and children.

So will the parents of Brisbane star Payne Haas’ and his extended family. Brisbane chair Karl Morris and chief executive Paul White may be forced to do the same as the game returns, but not as we know it.

It has been 67 days since rugby league went into hibernation due to COVID-19, nearly 10 long weeks for the game, its clubs, the players and their fans. The period since has been marked with controversy and speed bumps, the latest involving a failed drug test from one of the sport’s emerging superstars in Cronulla’s Bronson Xerri.

Some of the issues remain unresolved. No one knows when crowds will be allowed back in the venues, although ARL Commission chair Peter V’landys has identified July 1.

The broadcasting deal remains a work in progress and the revised agreement with the Nine Network and Foxtel is unlikely to be announced before kickoff at Suncorp Stadium, although it appears only a matter of time.

The talks, however, will continue as the game edges towards a five-year extension with Foxtel that will lock the network to rugby league until the end of 2027.

There has been criticism, much of it from AFL officials and their sycophantic media who aren’t used to rugby league leading the way.

The AFL has been trailing in the NRL’s wake, their competition still weeks away from returning. They have been given a lesson in leadership by V’landys and the NRL executive.

“My analysis showed the infection rate would be down,” said V’landys, who will watch Thursday night’s game from the comfort of home.

“I was banking on that. If I was wrong, it didn’t matter. If I was right, you got a big prize. It gave us time to get the broadcast right, it gave us time to get the protocols in place. We had a target date. It was aspirational, it was ambitious. But I was always confident we would be able to get there.”

Abdo wasn’t even the chief executive when COVOD-19 hit. He stepped into the breach when the commission moved on Todd Greenberg a couple of weeks after the competition was forced to shut down.

Abdo spent Wednesday afternoon and night locked in talks with club chief executives — Brisbane’s White, South Sydney’s Blake Solly and Melbourne’s Dave Donaghy — as they plotted the game’s financial future. There has been carnage and the game’s governance will never be the same.

“It will be 10 weeks tomorrow night since the competition stopped,” Abdo said.

“It feels like a lifetime. So much has happened between then and now. I would like to think when we look back at this, people will think we have done something good for the game.

“You have to look at the way all industries and sports have been impacted. Who is going to be resilient enough to bounce back and bounce back quickly?”

Rugby league and the game’s executive have led the way on that front. Now it is the players’ turn. They have been champing at the bit to get back on the field, having agreed to do so under the strictest of protocols.

A handful of media will be given access to Suncorp Stadium on Thursday night. Club bosses including chairs and chief executives will be locked out.

A finite number of players and officials will be forced to follow strict guidelines including having their temperature checked before they are allowed in the venue.

Once inside, they will unleash more than two months of pent-up frustration on each other. Brisbane and Parramatta were both undefeated when the competition went into hibernation and their clash will be followed 24 hours later by South Sydney and the Sydney Roosters. Fans won’t be there, but the players themselves are just happy to be playing again.

“I look at it as people have lost their jobs and we still have our jobs,” Haas said.

“No matter what, we are still out there to do a job. Whether there are fans or not, it is not going to change the way we look at it.”