Australian Rugby League (ARL) Commissioner Wayne Pearce has confirmed the National Rugby League (NRL) has the green light from government to restart on 28 May, with teams set to begin training on 4 May to prepare for the return to play.
Pearce, who has been heading up the Project Apollo innovations committee planning the NRL’s return, said this afternoon (Wednesday 22 April) that the competition has lift-off and would be up and running by the last week of May.
The NRL has been more aggressive and determined to come back than any sporting league around the world and today appears to be a major step in that direction.
In more good news for Raiders fans, Pearce also announced that all competition points accrued in the first two rounds before the shutdown will be carried over to the resumption of play; meaning the Raiders perfect 2 from 2 start won’t be wasted.
However, Pearce added the competition structure is still yet to be formalised.
“The key stakeholders in regards to the competition structure are the broadcasters, so we’re liaising with the broadcasters at the moment,” he said.
“We hope that we’ll be in a position, sooner rather than later, to announce what the competition structure looks like and what the end date of the competition will be.”
It appears teams outside of NSW will also be required to relocate.
“As of today, those teams would have to come into camp in NSW,” Pearce said. “But the landscape is changing pretty quickly.”
Pearce also said there is still some uncertainty about how the New Zealand Warriors’ season will operate.
“We are working with the government authorities to get them over here and get them through a quarantine period and have them ready with the other teams for the start of the competition,” he said.
“We’re working through all those details, we haven’t finalised that yet.”
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