{"id":98817,"date":"2021-07-12T00:53:35","date_gmt":"2021-07-12T00:53:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=98817"},"modified":"2021-07-12T04:00:34","modified_gmt":"2021-07-12T04:00:34","slug":"drastic-nrl-finals-move-flagged-by-vlandys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=98817","title":{"rendered":"Drastic NRL finals move flagged by V'landys"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian Rugby League Commission boss Peter V'landys<\/a> has flagged the possibility of Queensland hosting this year's semi-finals if the New South Wales COVID-19 outbreak<\/a> can't be brought under control by September.<\/p>\n

The NRL is in the process of moving 12 teams to Queensland<\/a> by the middle of this week, to keep the game going as the number of cases in Sydney continues to grow.<\/p>\n

But with the finals series set to kick-off on September 10<\/a> – just over eight weeks from now – the possibility remains that the game will be unable to return to Sydney until the 2022 season.<\/p>\n

The grand final has never been held outside of Sydney.<\/p>\n

"We believed yesterday that the risk became too great, that's why we decided to relocate," V'landys told Nine's Today.<\/em><\/p>\n

"We'll reassess in a week, we're hoping it's a month, but if it's longer than that, we'll stay up there. We're prepared for it. Financially we can afford to do it, however the longer it goes, the greater the strain on our finances.<\/p>\n

"At this stage (it's) four weeks, but there's a possibility we may even have to play our semi-finals up there.<\/p>\n

"We'll base all our decisions on the data, the data at the moment is not good, and it needs to get better. Hopefully within four weeks it's contained and we can bring all our players back."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/Danny_Weidler\/status\/1414359981361532929?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

Nine's Danny Weidler is reporting the NRL has already hit a hurdle in its efforts to move the clubs to Brisbane, with Queensland Health officials concerned about bringing players' families into the proposed bubbles.<\/p>\n

V'landys indicated earlier this morning that including the families was a priority for the game.<\/p>\n

"You need to get up to 500 people up there, we really want to get the families as well, that causes a biosecurity concern and we have to go through that today, we have to deal with the health department in Queensland, we've already spoken to the Premier, who has been exceptionally supportive," he said.<\/p>\n

"There's some biosecurity concerns that we have to overcome in the next couple of days, but we will do that.<\/p>\n

"We want the families there, we want to make it as easy as possible for them. I had a couple of wives call me yesterday pleading with me if they could go."<\/p>\n

Despite two high-profile NRL bubble breaches involving St George Illawarra<\/a> and Queensland State of Origin forward Jai Arrow<\/a>, V'landys is confident there won't be a repeat when the hubs are established.<\/p>\n

\"Peter<\/p>\n

"The players are like the rest of the community, we've become complacent," he said.<\/p>\n

"We thought we were over this pandemic, but obviously we haven't. The players, no excuse for them, it was poor judgement, but when you look at the rest of the community they've been doing the same thing.<\/p>\n

"I think it was a great wake-up call for our players. I don't think you'll see any more transgressions. Once they get to Queensland they'll follow all the protocols, they know this is our last chance.<\/p>\n

"They know that if we're shut down they won't earn any income. There's thousands of people that earn income from the game, you'll see a different situation this time with the players. I'm sure they will abide by them 110 per cent."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian Rugby League Commission boss Peter V'landys has flagged the possibility of Queensland hosting this year's semi-finals if the New South Wales COVID-19 outbreak can't […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98817"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=98817"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98819,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98817\/revisions\/98819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=98817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=98817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=98817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}