Townsville to join clamour to host matches for NRL’s return to action

The region of Townsville is expected to join the clamour for the return of rugby league.

Townsville can offer two quality venues, including the brand new Queensland Country Bank Stadium. Picture: Getty Images

The region of Townsville is expected to join the clamour for rugby league next week as it prepares to put forward a proposal to the football innovation committee — aka Project Apollo — to host as many as eight teams in north Queensland.

The Weekend Australian understands officials have discussed the prospect of playing host to one of the ‘bubbles’ of players when the competition resumes, possibly as early as June or more likely from July 1.

The NRL has formed a committee to consider what form the competition would take on its return, one of the concepts being that the players and teams be housed in ‘bubbles’ across a number of regions or towns.

The NRL has been contacted by people proposing the likes of Gladstone, western Sydney, southeast Queensland, Mudgee and Canberra, where the Australian Institute of Sport could house a multitude of players and teams.

It is understood Townsville will do likewise next week, its cause no doubt helped by the fact that it has two quality grounds — 1300Smiles Stadium and Queensland Country Bank Stadium — at its disposal. Queensland has also reported less cases of COVID-19 in comparison to NSW, making it an ideal place to host a handful of teams.

ARL Commission chair Peter V’landys is pushing hard to get the competition back as early as June, his optimism fuelled by statistics that appear to suggest the rate of infection in NSW is lower than when the competition was halted after round two last month.

More than 300 new cases of coronavirus were reported on March 23. On Thursday, that figure had almost halved. The signs are promising, amplifying the belief that rugby league could be back earlier than expected.

There will be complications, most notably the Warriors. There are fears that the lockdown in New Zealand could be extended, which would mean the Warriors may not be able to fly to Australia until mid-May at the earliest.

They would need at least four weeks for a mini pre-season, leaving the game racing the clock to make it back by July 1, let alone a month earlier.

Regardless of the timing, regions are queuing up to host the players and teams. Sources close to the Townsville proposal confirmed they expected to be in position to present something to the NRL early next week.

At the same time, national coach Mal Meninga has spoken in support of the southeast Queensland proposal, which was put together by Suncorp Stadium boss Alan Graham.

Under Graham’s plan, the competition would move holus bolus to southeast Queensland and play a series of Magic Rounds at Suncorp Stadium, Cbus Super Stadium on the Gold Coast and potentially Redcliffe.

The plan would extend for nine weeks before Graham believes the grounds would then need a rest. Meninga took the proposal to the NRL and believes it has merit given the facilities and accommodation that would be at the game’s disposal.

“It is a good proposal,” Meninga said.

“I feel if you are going to quarantine teams, southeast Queensland is very adequate — you have the stadia, they are a supportive government for the game. I think you could incubate all teams in different localities. You have the training facilities. And what Al’s group can do is make sure that hygienically, all those facilities are kept clean.

“I think logistically it works really well.”

Under Graham’s plan, players would be forced to spend at least two months in quarantine.

“If you incubate them in one facility, I reckon families could go there,” Meninga said.