Federal sports minister says NRL restart plan is ‘a bit ambitious'

Federal Sports Minister Richard Colbeck has labelled the NRL’s plans for its competition to resume as of 28th May as being a “bit ambitious”.

With the NRL announcing plans to restart at the end of next month, irrespective of governmental restrictions to slow the spread off Coronavirus, Senator Colbeck told ABC Radio this morning that while he wanted to see leagues return as soon as possible it had to be within reason.

Minister Colbeck advised “I think it’s a bit ambitious to be frank.

“If you consider the advice that we are still getting from people like (Chief Medical Officer) Brendan Murphy ... they’re the people who I think should be providing advice on these things.

“I think we need to be really cautious about the circumstances we are in. Yes, we are doing extremely well at the moment. But once the health authorities that are giving us advice give us the signal, we can start to relax some of those things.”

Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy warned on Sunday he thought it was “premature” to be planning a comeback amid the Coronavirus while Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced yesterday that border restrictions would not be eased for NRL clubs.

Premier Palaszczuk’s statement would suggest that the NRL’s three Queensland teams will have to base themselves in NSW if they want to play this year, and would face a 14-day quarantine whenever they return home.

The NRL, meanwhile, has advised that it possesses a letter from the NSW Police Commissioner Michael Fuller saying they can return behind closed doors on the proviso they provide a safe workplace.

Commissioner Fuller has been given extended powers during the Coronavirus and the document has a NSW Government State Emergency Operations Centre letterhead.

The NRL insists that as of its restart players will abide by strict biosecurity measures while playing, including having their temperature checked at least three times on game day.

The NRL is confident the drop in the rate of new cases will ensure it is playing a safe environment when the game returns in just over six weeks.