NRL: COVID-19 scare leads to first postponed game in 23 years

NSW’s latest COVID-19 scare prompted the NRL to postpone a game for the first time in 23 years.

Bulldogs boss Andrew Hill arrives at Belmore to be tested. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts

Canterbury forward Aiden Tolman will miss Monday night’s game against Sydney Roosters and could be sidelined for a fortnight after NSW’s latest COVID-19 scare prompted the NRL to postpone a game for the first time in 23 years and every Bulldogs player and official to undergo testing for coronavirus.

Tolman was informed by NSW Health on Saturday night that a teacher at a school that his child attends — Laguna Street Primary School, in the southern Sydney suburb of Caringbah — had tested positive for COVID-19.

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Tolman immediately informed Bulldogs chief executive Andrew Hill, setting in chain a process that prompted the NRL to postpone the Bulldogs-Roosters game for more than 24 hours and bring forward the meeting between Cronulla and St George Illawarra by two hours.

Tolman also underwent a COVID-19 test, which came back negative, and was isolated from his family in a Sydney hotel. It is understood tests on Tolman’s family also came back negative.

The remainder of the Bulldogs players and support staff were still awaiting the results of their tests late on Sunday night.

Regardless of the negative test, Tolman will miss Monday night’s game and could be sidelined for an extended period while the NRL’s biosecurity expert — Dr David Heslop — analyses the situation.

Tolman’s exact return date will hinge on Heslop’s findings. It shapes as the latest blow to Canterbury coach Dean Pay as he struggles to hold onto his job, the frustration exacerbated by the fact that English signing Luke Thompson arrived in the country on Sunday night. Thompson was forced into a fortnight of quarantine in Melbourne and will have to watch from a distance at a time when his new club could benefit from his presence. Tolman is one of the club’s most experienced players and the sort of figure the Bulldogs desperately need as they brace for a stern test against the defending premiers.

The Roosters were brilliant in their win over Brisbane in Round 4 and will be strengthened by the return of James Tedesco. The Bulldogs, on the other hand, have been shorn of one of their most important forwards.

“Once we found out about Aiden’s situation we immediately informed the NRL and have been working with them overnight, which ultimately led to the decision to postpone the game until tomorrow,” Hill said.

“This is an unprecedented situation, but we will make sure that we take all the necessary precautions required and get everyone within our bubble tested and cleared over the next 24 hours.”

Hill was chilling out at home, beer in hand preparing to watch the footy when he fielded a call from Tolman on Saturday night.

Those best-laid plans were suddenly in disarray. Hill promptly informed NRL head of football Graham Annesley, who in turn called ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys.

V’landys called a commission meeting on Sunday morning and spoke to the broadcasters, who backed the decision to postpone the game.

“We have a process in place,” V’landys said. “It comes to me and a committee. I had a hook-up with our biosecurity expert, who basically gave me all the facts.

“Once I started hearing the facts, I got a bit concerned because you had to make a lot of assumptions. He made the assumption that the infection came from outside the school, but he didn’t know. I stewed on it overnight.

“When I woke up this morning, the second part of the process is to have a commission meeting. We had a commission meeting and we decided to take the cautious approach. We have always said from day one that the safety of our players is paramount consideration. If we were to go ahead and he was positive, then he would have infected Roosters players as well. It wasn’t worth the risk.

“I rang the broadcasters this morning and they were fine with it. The positive is we are now testing out Monday night football.”

It is understood an official at another club also underwent a COVID test on Sunday morning because of a link to the school. That test also came back negative.

The commission will meet again on Monday to discuss the possibility of clubs returning to play at their regular home grounds from the start of July as conditions for crowds continue to ease.

In NSW, allowing a capped number of fans into games has been given the green light from July 1, with the state government permitting stadiums to operate at 25 per cent capacity.

It comes just days after the federal government ticked off on crowds of up to 10,000 people in stadiums. Only stadiums with 40,000 capacity or less have been allowed to open their gates, meaning Sydney’s ANZ Stadium remains unavailable.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: AAP