New Zealand Warriors will relocate to New South Wales for at least the first three months of 2021, with the club to play a minimum of the first four rounds of the competition in Australia.
The move comes in the continued absence of a trans-Tasman travel bubble which makes it impossible for the team to be based in Auckland.
The Warriors had been due to play their first two matches of the season, against Gold Coast and Newcastle, at Mt Smart Stadium. Instead, those matches have now been moved to Central Coast Stadium.
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Those matches will be followed by away games against Canberra and the Sydney Roosters.
"It's not what we want to do but it's what we have to do. Our priority is to ensure we do all we can to enable our team to be as well prepared as it can be for 2021," said club boss Cameron George.
"It's a football decision that needs to be made now. We can't afford to speculate about what might or might not happen any longer. We need clarity for our players, staff and families.
"We tried to arrange a quarantine facility like other sporting bodies have done to bring our players from Australia to train here as a squad but our request was declined so we've had to adapt.
"We'll keep abreast of the border situation and in early March will decide with the NRL what the best course of action is after the first four rounds, hopefully returning to New Zealand to play at Mount Smart for the first time since 2019 in round five."
The Warriors' full squad will be based in Tamworth for a month from January 3 before moving to Terrigal on the Central Coast.
NRL boss Andrew Abdo paid tribute to the club for helping to keep the competition running.
"The Warriors are a special club to all of us," he said.
"They have again put the competition ahead of their own personal interests. Their sacrifices cannot be overstated, on behalf of the Australian Rugby League Commission and the game I want to thank the players and staff for what they are doing for the competition.
"The Warriors were one of the great stories of the 2020 season, almost making the semi-finals after becoming the first team in the world to relocate to a different country for a season.
"I know the club has been very much been adopted by both the Central Coast and Tamworth communities."
The NRL says it still expects the Warriors to be based in New Zealand for the majority of the season.
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