KNIGHTS coach Adam O'Brien says his players understand their responsibilities after being cleared to resume training and want to embrace the chance to set a positive example to the general public.
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Six weeks after the NRL season was suspended because of the coronavirus, all 16 clubs regrouped on Monday for a biosecurity briefing.
Players will be given 24 hours to digest the new protocols before they return to restricted training on Wednesday, in preparation for a proposed resumption of the competition on May 28.
For training this week, players will be limited to groups of 10 with no body contact.
O'Brien said his players were grateful that they had been allowed to return to work and felt "a real responsibility now as a playing group and a club" to repay the faith shown in them by ARL Commission chairman Peter V'Landys, who has lobbied tirelessly for the past few weeks to get the show back on the road.
"We spoke today about how we've got a higher purpose," O'Brien told the Newcastle Herald.
"There's a lot of industries that will get to come back to normality based on how well we do this. We're pretty much the only sport in the whole world that has come back together today."
O'Brien said the controversy last week when Origin stars Josh Addo-Carr, Latrell Mitchell and Nathan Cleary, as well as fringe Knight Tyronne Roberts-Davis, were fined for breaching social-distancing regulations was a timely warning.
"I guess a lot of guys got a free lesson," O'Brien said.
"Those three or four guys last week, they didn't get a free lesson, but the rest of the players across the competition did.
"That's not on, and they completely understand that now ... I don't know Nathan Cleary, but I've coached Josh, I've coached Latrell and now I'm coaching Tyronne.
"And the one thing about them is they're all good people.
"There's no malice in them.
"There's not a mean bone in their bodies.
"But they made a mistake and they've paid a hefty price for it, and it's important that nobody else makes the same mistake."
O'Brien said his troops were eager to resume normal service after spending six weeks maintaining strength and fitness levels in isolation.
"I got the feeling today that there was a real sense of excitement, being back together again," he said.
"It makes you really proud of the group that we have. You probably take for granted how closely connected they are, until something like this happens and you can sit back and observe it."
O'Brien said the NRL protocols would also apply to the families of players and staff.
"The unfortunate ones in this are probably the partners," he said.
"With the laws and restrictions slowly easing for everyone else, they won't be able to reap the benefits of that ... so that probably dawned on a few of the players today.
"It's all-in."
