NRL prepares full-facility quarantine base for Warriors crew

Cooks, cleaners and wait staff will be asked to join the Warriors in a two-week quarantine when they arrive in Australia.

The Warriors players will have full training facilities at their quarantine base when they arrive in Australia. Picture: Getty Images

Cooks, cleaners and wait staff will be asked to join the Warriors in a two-week quarantine with plans to have the New Zealand NRL team in Australia by May 3.

The NRL has prepared an ambitious plan to not only house the Warriors players and staff but set up a quarantine station — or a bubble — around them, which will not be open to visitors during the two-week isolation period.

The venue is yet to be decided, but it will allow the Warriors to isolate inside the bubble and still be able to train with a field and gym on the precinct.

It is understood the Warriors are pushing to be housed at Lake Ainsworth sport and recreation centre in Lennox Head. The venue has accommodation, swimming pool, gym and fields.

ARL Commission chair Peter V’landys wrote to club chairs on Thursday night detailing the plans for the Warriors to remain part of the competition.

“In relation to the Warriors we have been working with the government to bring them across to Australia on May 3,” V’landys wrote.

“At which time they will be quarantined in a facility which includes a gym and training ground.

“This facility would be regarded as a quarantine centre where everyone is quarantined, this includes staff such as cooks, wait staff and cleaners.

“The benefit is that while in quarantine the Warriors can train and do everything else that other NRL clubs are doing in preparation for the recommencement of the competition.”

All clubs are planning to start training on May 4.

Allowing the Warriors to train while isolating will assist in the aim of having the competition resume by May 28.

If the Warriors were unable to train, it would result in the delay of the resumption of the competition, or at least the return round would be missing the Warriors. The Warriors need to be in isolation for 14 days.

The NRL is working on contingency plans within its revised draw that will pave the way for “catch-up” games at some stage throughout the season. But the plan is to have the Warriors as part of the 16-team competition come May 28.

The Warriors are likely to feature on the Sunday in round 3.

The intention was for the Warriors to fly out on Sunday but that has been scrapped with the NRL still working with the relative New Zealand and Australian governments to allow the side into the country.

The Warriors wrote to the NRL last week with a list of questions but received little communication back from the game’s head office. Some of those questions were answered during a phone hook-up with the NRL executive on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, South Sydney chief executive CEO Blake Solly has dismissed speculation NRL clubs will attempt to sign sidelined overseas-based stars on short-term deals, saying it is “not grounded in reality”.

With the UK Super League suspended indefinitely due to the coronavirus, Toronto’s Sonny Bill Williams, Catalans’ Israel Folau, Wigan’s Jackson Hastings and Warrington’s Blake Austin were reportedly in the sights of NRL clubs ahead of the Australian competition’s proposed May 28 resumption.

Rugby stars Quade Cooper and Ben Te’o had also been tossed up as targets .

While Solly likes the idea of luring big names to the NRL on short-term deals, he can’t see it happening.

“I don’t want to burst anyone’s balloon, but I don’t think it’s realistic,” Solly told UK Sky Sports. “Most clubs have filled out their squad of 30 or got 29 players.

“If you think every one of those players is going to be fit and ready to play at the end of May, given the break we’ve had, it’s hard to see how you’d fit another player in at the expense of someone contracted.

“On top of the squads of 30, each team has between three and six development players you’d call into the squad, so given the contract regulations and the financial implications of bringing in a guest like that, it would seem like it’s a nice news story but not grounded in reality.”

Another proposed target, ex-NSW star James Maloney, has already ruled out the prospect of organising a short-term NRL deal, saying it sounded like a headache he could do without.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH/AAP