After a tumultuous 24 hours, the NRL has reached an agreement with the Queensland Government to continue the competition across Sunday and Monday, after all football was suspended due to Queensland’s snap three-day Covid lockdown.

Having endured a gruelling 12 hour negotiation process, the NRL CEO proclaimed “I’m feeling a lot better today than this time yesterday.”

Despite the frustration of finding out in real time, Abdo said “we will do anything we can do to help suppress the virus”, and insists relations with the Queensland Government are strong.

“We want to make sure we keep playing.”

However, should the threat resurface, Abdo went on to say “we’re thinking beyond Queensland.”

“It’s important for us to be ready and have our contingency plans. The good news is the way we have the clubs structured in hubs and our protocols, it means we are able to create a shield which then protects the community and also protects the players. That allows us to operate as we’ve demonstrated throughout lockdown.”

“Thinking about where we play the remainder of the season, the finals series and of course the grand final is in our minds. We talk about it every day and we’re thinking about different scenarios.”

“We also want to play where it’s safe but also it’d be great to play in front of crowds, so we’re really, really hopeful the situation improves in NSW and around the country.”

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