Biosecurity expert predicts NRL back to normal in 2021

Associate professor David Heslop has given the clubs and players hope that next season may be played under normal conditions with crowds.

NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo, left, with Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys. Picture: Phil Hillyard

The biosecurity expert charged with guiding the NRL through the pandemic has lauded the sport for its handling of the crisis and given players and clubs genuine hope that the competition could regain some sense of normalcy in the early rounds of next year.

Associate Professor David Heslop helped put together the biosecurity protocols that have governed the game’s return and met club chief executives on Wednesday to give them an outlook on the future.

He did the same for The Australian on Thursday and provided genuine optimism that a vaccine was on the horizon, the forerunner to players being unshackled and crowds returning to games en masse in the early part of next season.

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That news will be a huge fillip for NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo and the clubs as they negotiate the financial fallout from the COVID-19 crisis.

“The prediction is in January we will have our first doses (of vaccine),” Heslop said.

“It is my expectation that will be prioritised centrally to high-risk people — ICU workers, frontline doctors and healthcare workers, and other essential services.

“At some point it will become broadly available, probably in the first few months of next year. At that point, once vaccination goes out into the community, the NRL will be able to get its players into the system.

“At that point, the requirement for protocols really diminish and perhaps go away. Best case scenario is that the first few weeks of next season are (under) some form of protocol, then return to effectively a normal season at that point. I have got my fingers crossed. The Apollo protocols are in place to manage the risk. If the risk isn’t there that means the protocols will be gone.

“It would be a very quick return to crowds at that point.”

The NRL and their clubs are projected to lose upwards of $400m over the remainder of this season and the next two due to the COVID crisis.

Abdo is locked in talks with the players union over a way to apportion the loss without impacting too significantly on the ability of players to earn a living.

Heslop acknowledges the concerns stretch beyond finances when it comes to the players. Having been forced to spend most of the season in a biosecurity bubble, their every move dictated by a series of protocols, he harbours concerns for their health and mental wellbeing.

It is why the players not involved in the State of Origin series will be allowed to leave the bubble days after their season comes to an end.

“As a sport we have done exceptionally well,” Heslop said.

“Some of the issues that are emerging now is just this fatigue with the protocols. We have been focused on making sure people are safe but in order to do that, the kind of restrictions we have placed on them are very strong and they have been going on for a long time.

“We are talking about young people with families. The biggest issue for us is that people are becoming fatigued, there are what everyone calls mental health impacts.”

“My view is that any kind of reporting should be minimal if any (while they are on holidays),” Heslop said. “My advice is that we should be looking at a period where they are not even thinking about the protocols.”