Summary
Welcome back, live sport. How we’ve missed you. In the dark initial days of Covid-19, many feared Australia’s winter codes would be done for 2020. But some old-fashioned bullocking from the NRL saw it return to action first, and tonight’s game between Brisbane and Parramatta was the first step towards completing an unlikely premiership season.
And what an advert for the sport it was. The Eels were irrepressible, bossing the Broncos from the first minute to the last in a fine advertisement for their title credentials. They are now unbeaten after three rounds and, revealingly, revelled in the new environs formed by the six-again rule. Parramatta held the ball well, attacked and capitalised when Brisbane made their errors – and there were plenty of them.
On this evidence, the awarding of a fresh set of six tackles for ruck infringements opens the game up and forces it to be played at a greater speed. Inevitably this also leads to a higher incidence of errors, leading to the conclusion there are fewer places to hide for inferior teams. Blowouts could become frequent in this brave new world for rugby league.
The move to use just one referee was ridiculed by some but tonight, Gerard Sutton was barely sighted. And that it always a good thing. So while cardboard cutouts and virtual crowd audio was as close as fans got to the live experience, the reboot of the 2020 season should be considered nothing other than resounding success for the NRL.
For more of the same, we hope, be sure to return tomorrow night for our liveblog of the Roosters-Rabbitohs clash. Thanks for your company. Footy’s back. How good is that?
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FT: Brisbane 6-34 Parramatta
Well, it wasn’t the 58-0 flogging of 2019 but the Eels were no less impressive in putting Brisbane away to shoot to the top of the ladder with a 3-0 record.
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TRY! Brisbane 6-34 Parramatta
The ball is again with Parra and the Broncos can do no more than concede a line dropout from the Eels’ latest attacking play. From the restart Parra thrust forward and this time the Broncos are powerless as Matterson offloads to Blake, who crosses over for an easy try. Put a fork in the Broncos. They’re done.
73 mins: The Eels have really, ahem, taken the crowd out of this game but in fairness to Brisbane they are running out the final minutes strongly. And the crunching tackles are showing no signs of stopping. But tonight they’ve been outclassed by a better team.
Here’s that Lane try. Crunch.
Big bird just had to fall over for a meat pie!#NRLBroncosEels 6-28 with 12 minutes to go. #TelstraPremiership pic.twitter.com/5M5ndOkBeg
— NRL (@NRL) May 28, 2020
TRY! Brisbane 6-28 Parramatta
66 mins: The Eels are fairly well queuing up to score tries, and now it’s Shaun Lane’s turn to cross that line as he takes the ball five metres out and mows his way through an unfortunate Kotoni Staggs, who tackles but is flattened by the huge Eel’s frame.
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I wasn’t joking when I said Brodie Croft twice failed the temperature test tonight. It begs the question: how many times can you fail before you are told to go home?
TRY! Brisbane 6-22 Parramatta
62 mins: Jennings rolls back the years with a sublime solo try from dummy half, sidestepping and feigning all the way to the promised land - and between the posts at that. An easy conversion and the scoreline is now more reflective of this one-sided encounter.
Oh, if you were wondering about Alex Glenn’s cut calf, wonder no more.
Suspected location of Alex Glenn’s laceration below. Hopefully minimal damage to underlying muscles and blood vessels (appears likely to have avoided artery but superficial vein in that general area). Fingers crossed just simple wound clean up & stitches #NRLBroncosEels pic.twitter.com/cEW4XqgUsM
— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) May 28, 2020
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60 mins: Not a bad set from the Broncos, but Ferguson holds onto a high kick just outside the danger zone to snuff out a rare Broncos forward thrust.
55 mins: Aaaaaaaand, they’ve lost it courtesy of a forward pass. The Broncos just haven’t been able to retain possession tonight. A penalty for obstructing the kick-chase - Oates did a good job at cleaning up Ferguson - then keeps the ball in Parra’s keeping, and the dance goes on. The Broncos hold on again, however, and finally begin their own attacking foray. Brisbane 6-16 Parramatta
51 mins: Another Broncos error gives Parra a set of six 20m out from the Broncos line before an infringement hands them another six. Evans looks set to cross before five, yes, five, Broncos gang tackle him and Brisbane appear to have weathered the storm before a penalty on the final tackle awards the Eels yet another set of six. Somehow, the Broncos stand firm and force the turnover. Incredible defending under heavy pressure. Seems like an eternity since Brisbane have had the ball but now they do.
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47 mins: The Eels look likely again but a Moses fumble gives the Broncos some much-needed breathing space. But errors are creeping in everywhere and Brisbane hand the ball straight back to Parra, who then hand it straight back to the Broncos. Yes, the play is faster under the six-again rule but errors look to be increasing, also.
TRY! Brisbane 6-16 Parramatta
43 mins: Another Hopoate handling error hands Parra a new set of six and the rest was akin to shelling peas for the Eels, Gutherson the one with the ball when it mattered to make it three tries to one. Oddly, Moses misses one of his easier conversion attempts and that’s at least something for the Broncos.
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41 mins: And we’re back. Big news out of the break: Broncos skipper Alex Glenn is done for the night after being taken to hospital for treatment on a laceration to his left calf.
Apparently Brodie Croft failed the temperature test twice upon arrival at Suncorp today, before making it third time lucky and being passed fit to play. I wonder, were these motley figures tested before they took to their seats? Or doesn’t it matter, given they’re observing requisite social distance?
HT: Brisbane 6-12 Parramatta
Well, that last Broncos play could, nay should, have squared things up and that would have presented an awry state of affairs at the break. Brisbane do not deserve to be level in this match after 40 minutes and in fact are somewhat lucky to be only six points down. The Eels are on top everywhere: 59-41% in possession, 1,130-779 in metres run, 135-87 in total passes, 12-6 on the scoreboard. The Broncos are finding it hard to get the ball, and then keep it when do. But they’re only six points down.
But, the big question needs to be asked: what is going on with the dos on some of these men?
Anyone else notice all the @NRL players suffering from the serious condition of "isolation hair" #isolationhair #NRLBroncosEels #NRL #ThoughtsAndPrayers pic.twitter.com/20ygeVNSq7
— Jessica Richards (@j_richo1990) May 28, 2020
39 mins: An Eels infringement hands the Broncos a fresh set in the dying seconds and Milford puts it on a plate for Boyd with a devilish left-foot kick, only for the recipient to do no receiving at all, fumbling the ball when he should have been pounding it into the Suncorp turf. Might have been 12-12. Games aren’t won on might’ve-beens.
36 mins: The Eels threaten again, tossing the ball around like Western Sydney Globetrotters, but a handling error returns possession to the Broncos. And then just that, a handling error, from Hopoate hands the ball back to Parra. The Eels are on top here and the Broncos are doing themselves no favours. Brisbane 6-12 Parramatta.
32 mins: For a fleeing moment it looks like the Eels have another try, but before Sivo raced over the line and touched down, Gutherson was guilty of a forward pass. Food for thought: in this brave new world of six-again rules and one ref, how about doing away with the forward pass rule? Settle down you lot, I’m kidding.
TRY! Brisbane 6-12 Parramatta
27 mins: From the ensuing set of six, Sivo finds himself on the receiving end of the final play, a pass from Jennings, before showing wonderful balance and strength to stay just inside the field of play and score the try. A little cruel on the Broncos, who defended stoutly, but it’s now a six-point lead for the Eels following another deft conversion.
Sound guy and camera man doing their best not to catch Coronavirus off the players #NRLBroncosEels #nrl pic.twitter.com/7DJKScJixc
— Alex Malcolm (@thealexmalcolm) May 28, 2020
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25 mins: Back to the game, and it’s still six points each. Arthars is penalised for a knock-on and this, as well as a fresh set of six, has opened the door for the Eels. But the Broncos are defending better now and Hopoate takes the ball dead to snuff out an attacking play. But now comes another one, albeit from much father away than the try line.
I was tempted to trot out the hackneyed, ‘And the crowd goes wild’ line after Croft’s brilliant try. Not just because that’s what tired old sports writers do. It’s because they actually did go wild. Broadcasters are splicing virtual crowd audio amongst the sounds of the game, and I have to say it’s working quite well. I was sceptical, but you can still hear the bumps, crunches and urgings of the players. In the background, however, is the sound of the fan. Hey, if it worked for Seinfeld it can work for the NRL.
I have the say the @NRL virtual crowd noice is pretty authentic, especially when watching and second screening. #NRLBroncosEels #NRL
— Mary Collier (@mtc01) May 28, 2020
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TRY! Brisbane 6-6 Parramatta
17 mins: Brodie Croft has been influential already and now he’s taken it upon himself, going on a 40m run for a superb solo try. Where some halves might’ve looked to pass, he spotted some turf and turned on the burners. Great vision, great speed, great try. And a sweet conversion from Isaako from an acute angle.
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15 mins: Parra commit their first ruck infringement and now the Broncos get a fresh set of six. We’re only 15 minutes in, but this rule has opened the game up and made it played at a far greater pace. It’s frenetic. And it’s leading to more errors seemingly. The eels look like they’re away but Sivo tosses it straight into the arms of Arthars. Right to him. Brisbane 0-6 Parramatta.
12 mins: It should be one try apiece but the Eels slip the noose as Croft throws a dummy pass before dribbling the ball into the path of Milford, who only has to stay on his feet to claim the ball and score the try. But he slips on the Suncorp turf and the score remains 6-0 to the Eels.
11 mins: Arthars and Hopoate team up on Sivo and force the ball free. The Broncos gain possession from the ensuing scrum in their best moment of the game.
9 mins: Brisbane are trying to muscle their way back into the match, Staggs dropping Gutherson with a big tackle and letting him know about it. But The Eels are winning the territory battle. And so far, the game.
7 mins: The Eels have started the match much the better. They trap the Broncos in their own zone, win the ball back and still Brisbane have just the one set to their name. Can’t get their hands on the ball yet.
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TRY! Brisbane 0-6 Parramatta
3 mins: A pair of ruck infringements award the Eels two fresh sets of tackles and the sheer force of momentum has the Broncos buckling under the pressure. Marata Niukore is nimble on his feet, sidesteps a potential suitor before crossing the line and just retaining downward force on the ball. First blood to Parra.
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2 mins: Both teams complete their opening sets but the Eels do so more convincingly, with the Broncos gaining just 20m for their six tackles.
And we are away!!!!!!!!!! Ferguson wears the second tackle for the Eels and live sport is back in this country.
Can the Broncos pull off a 59-point form, reversal and win this match? You know what I mean, last year’s 58-0 drubbing plus one point to triumph? Yes they can, I hear you say, but will they? Yes, I think they will. There you go. The Eels are morals now.
When I said two minutes, I forgot this is the NRL. They love being fashionably late. You’ll see it when you’re lookin’ at it. Should be soon. I hope.
In the meantime, I think we can all identify with this hound.
The all important job of getting comfortable for the return of the #NRL :) #NRLBroncosEels pic.twitter.com/pYaCwDj3CU
— Claire (@WordsFromClaire) May 28, 2020
Two minutes to go. Feels kinda good saying that. I think now is an appropriate time for us all to spare a thought for Gerard Sutton. He’s tonight’s ref. Note the singular. Good luck, Gezza.
Billy Slater was asked tonight which sort of teams would be most suited by the NRL’s new six-again rule. “The team that holds the ball,” responded The Kid. Simple game innit, rugba league. Though he does have a point outside the bleeding obvious: the more you have the nut, the more they have to chase and the wearier they get. And if any team is underdone fitness-wise after this unique preparation, the resetting of six tackles will likely expose that.
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I reckon this bloke will be watching tonight’s game.
Gallons on water, much of it muddied by the filth of Covid-19, have passed under the bridge since these teams last met, so forgive me for not recalling the match, the result or possessing the cognisance it in fact ever took place.
Oh hang on, it’s coming back to me now.
Last time they met (sorry Broncos fans)...@TheParraEels destroy the @BrisbaneBroncos 58-0 in the qualifying finals of the 2019 #NRL season.#NRLBroncosEels pic.twitter.com/ItxrWp8GX5
— NRL (@NRL) May 28, 2020
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If I’d read Larissa O’Connor’s fabulous overview of what has taken place in the 67 days since round two ended before writing what I’ve just written, I wouldn’t have bothered writing what I’ve just written. Because she’s said it all. Go on, have a read. You won’t regret it.
TEAMS
#NRLBroncosEels teams are in and the countdown is on!
— Fox Sports Lab (@FoxSportsLab) May 28, 2020
Last time they met @TheParraEels recorded the biggest ever Finals win (58-0).#Bronxnation #PARRAdise #NRL pic.twitter.com/2UTnwt10E9
My takeouts:
1. Brodie Croft v Mitch Moses will go a way to determining the result of this match;
2. The Eels would prefer it if Nathan Brown was out there;
3. Clint Gutherson. Show us what you’ve got.
4. Reed Mahoney is a freak of nature. Break your foot in round two, butter up for round three. Hard as nails.
Thanks Mike. Haven’t seen a countdown like that since Molly Meldrum was doing us all a favour. Lovely stuff. And a big welcome to all patronising this liveblog. Yes, L-I-V-E-blog. Its animation is down to one incredible, irrefutable fact: footy’s baaaaaack! Like a Hugh Hefner party, Peter V’landys has his knockers but tonight he is feted in near-deity terms as the saviour of rugba league. If being the first sport in Australia to resume competition was ever a race, the NRL has won it. Bulldozing its way through the Covid-19 red tape to arrive at this point might not have been to everyone’s taste, but tonight isn’t about the rights, wrongs or hypothetical rhetoric. Time will have its say on these matters. Tonight is about sport, glorious sport. So let’s just enjoy that. The game is on.
Less than 2 hours until @NRL is back on tv screen. Let’s take a moment to give thanks to our fearless leader Saint Peter V’landys #NRL #NRLisback #NRLBroncosEels pic.twitter.com/nH8pGsLbRo
— Dylan Matthews (@DylanMatthews91) May 28, 2020
And with that, it’s time for me to leave you in the capable hands of my colleague, Scott Heinrich, who will take you through the actual footy, which is why we’re all here, after all. Not long to wait. Bye for now.
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Some pre-match drama to report: Brodie Croft, the young Brisbane halfback, failed two temperature checks on his way into the stadium. He was put in a holding room, waited for 15 minutes and was then reassessed, according to Corey Parker, the former Broncos player, who is talking on Fox Sports. Croft is good to go now though, but it’s a stark reminder of what rugby league – and all sport, for that matter – now looks like in this Covid-era.
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30 MINUTES TO GO!
We’re approaching kick-off. Excitement is building. A video montage with inspirational music has been played on Fox (“It’s time to get this party restarted” etc etc). And someone’s put a surgical mask on the Wally Lewis statue outside the stadium.
Here’s what it looks like inside:
Been a minute 😍#NRLBroncosEels pic.twitter.com/5Ht5gxHkc3
— NRL (@NRL) May 28, 2020
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Broadcast deal announced
Breaking news: With less than an hour to go before kick-off, the Australian Rugby League Commission, Foxtel and Nine Entertainment Co have agreed to a broadcast partnership, with Fox extending its deal by five years until 2027.
The financial details of the deal, the NRL said, will remain commercial in confidence. A league statement said the deals would provide certainty with both broadcasters recommitted to the current rights period until the end of 2022; Foxtel has extended its partnership for a further five years until the end of 2027.
“I am delighted to have worked with our long-standing partners Foxtel and Nine to reshape and resume the 2020 NRL Telstra Premiership. It is significant that on one of the most important days in our game’s history, we have finalised the deals to ensure its future,” ALRC chair Peter V’landys said.
“Our negotiations were tough but always in a spirit of goodwill and shared ambitions for the betterment of rugby league. We could not have reached our 28 May restart ambitions without the teamwork and collaboration of our partners.
“These deals provide certainty to ensure our 16 clubs remain strong and that we can continue to invest in grassroots rugby league across our communities.”
For the resumed 2020 season:
- Foxtel will continue to show all eight games every round - including five exclusive telecasts each weekend;
- Nine will continue to televise three weekly NRL matches - Thursday and Friday nights, plus Sunday afternoon;
- Nine will provide exclusive coverage of the October 25 grand final;
- Nine will continue its exclusive coverage of the three State of Origin matches, to be held this year over three weeks on November 4, 11 and 18.
ONE HOUR TO GO!
If this was Lego Masters or some other reality TV show, we’d be treated to a panic-inducing siren and flashing red lights at this stage. But it isn’t, it’s not even NRL Island (sadly), so we’ll have to make do with caps and bold.
Anyway, with so few major sports leagues around the world up and running, the return of the NRL presents itself as something of an opportunity to showcase the league’s wares to the world. The NRL has made clear it senses this, and has been tweeting to the US (“Yo America, we have LIVE sport for you”) with suggested teams for NFL fans to support, the UK and Ireland, Canada and pretty much anyone else who’ll listen.
Hello World 🌎
— NRL (@NRL) May 28, 2020
Are you ready for the #NRL?@WatchNRL pic.twitter.com/d4djPZkFN7
It makes sense though. With so little live sport, competitions are getting coverage previously unheard of and reaching places they might not in more normal times. I can’t remember, for example, the last time the Guardian liveblogged a K-League match before the other week.
Meanwhile, here’s the scene at an eerily quiet Suncorp:
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ONE AND A HALF HOURS TO GO!
To the football, and there would be plenty to capture the imagination about this clash, even if it wasn’t the first live rugby league we’ve been able to watch for 10 weeks.
Last year’s 58-0 finals drubbing at the hands of the Eels should already have done Anthony Seibold’s team talk for him; the coach said earlier this week they haven’t spoken about that game in the build up to tonight, but Corey Oates admitted the defeat was very much in the players’ minds.
“We feel physically we have grown a fair bit [since],” Seibold said. “If there was any redemption or talk around whether we have become a better team I think that was put to bed with some pretty tough games against the Cowboys and South Sydney.”
Those wins in the opening two rounds of the season, pre-shutdown, have given the Broncos a perfect start, but equally, if not more perfect are the Eels, who top the table after winning their own two games, the second a 46-6 thumping of the Titans in the last game before the break.
The question is: is a form team in March a form team in May? We simply don’t know just yet, and given the length of the break, and the short lead in time to round three, it’s anyone’s guess. And there are question marks around fitness, as well as form – it’ll be interesting to see how players go around the hour mark.
All will be revealed soon enough.
In the meantime... only six?
#NRL Bingo is here! 👇🏼
— NRL (@NRL) May 27, 2020
You have 6 cards to utilise 😃 pic.twitter.com/PB7kR7H38O
TWO HOURS TO GO!
The Danes aren’t the only ones pulling out all the stops in a bid to create an atmosphere in stadiums devoid of actual fans. In Japan, a similar-sounding remote cheering app has been tested at two of the nation’s top football clubs. As Justin McCurry reports from Tokyo:
“The Remote Cheerer system developed by the Japanese firm Yamaha allows fans following the match on TV, the radio or online to encourage – or berate – players via their smartphones, their voices reverberating around the stadium in realtime via loudspeakers. In a recent field test, users in multiple remote locations chose from a range of on-screen options that sent their cheers, applause, chants and boos into the 50,000-seat Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa via 58 speakers set up among the empty seats. The app does not, as yet, allow fans to question the referee’s eyesight, or the eating habits of players who struggled to stay match-fit during the league’s virus-enforced break.”
Less technological but none the less innovative has been the NRL’s own attempt to give off the impression a stadium is full, with fans able to buy $22 cardboard cutouts of themselves, which would be placed in the stands. In an idea borrowed from the Bundesliga, fans can upload a headshot to a website; it would then be printed out and put in a seat where it would remain for seven weeks.
The concept will be trialled tomorrow and Saturday at Bankwest and Central Coast stadiums and if a success will be heavily promoted before next week’s round four. It seems like a great idea; but presumably that’s also what K-League club FC Seoul thought when they decided to populate the stands with plastic dolls the other week. It’s a question that has been often asked over the past weeks, but what could possibly go wrong?
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TWO AND A HALF HOURS TO GO!
To underline the point that it will be an altogether different experience once the NRL resumes, Nine’s World Wide of Sport reports Broncos fans not allowed in the stadium will tonight still be able to watch the game with likeminded Queenslanders – just at a temporary drive-through movie theatre. It’s not exactly a pub, but at least there’s a chance of creating an atmosphere of some kind in front of the giant screen, which has been erected 15 minutes from Brisbane’s CBD. Need any added incentive to head out there? Sam Thaiday will be there too, apparently.
Meanwhile, in Denmark, where top flight football will also recommence on Thursday night, a giant screen – 40 metres long and 3m high – in front of one stand will be filled with fans watching via video link. Supporters have signed up for free tickets to take part and can even choose their preferred section of the “virtual stand”. More here:
THREE HOURS TO GO!
Tik-Tok and Instagram have played their part in the build-up to tonight. Indeed, social media could have brought the whole thing crashing down before it even restarted, thanks to some ill-advised photos and videos featuring Latrell Mitchell and Josh Addo Carr on a camping retreat in NSW and the now infamous video of Nathan Cleary at his home with several visitors – socially distant it was not. That all came at a time when the NRL was trying to convince the authorities and the general public its players were fine upstanding citizens who could be relied upon to follow simple orders and keep themselves in check should the league be given the green light to resume.
It wasn’t always star players with too much spare time on their hands getting up to no good, though. There was a time when the game of rugby league produced players like Olsen Filipaina – garbage collector by day, rugby league player by night. And a man who famously tamed one of Australia’s best ever. They don’t make them like Olsen anymore.
A new book has chronicled his life; you can read an extract about a Test match New Zealand played against Australia in 1985 here:
THREE AND A HALF HOURS TO GO!
Once the teams run out to an empty Suncorp Stadium tonight, we’ll witness an NRL game, but it won’t entirely be as we knew it in the pre-Covid era. The impact of the coronavirus has been far-reaching, not only forcing a 10-week suspension, but also acting as the first domino to fall and spark a sequence of events that has resulted in a fundamental change in how the game is run.
So instead of two referees officiating tonight’s game, there will be just one. We’ll have to wait and see how that pans out, but this is the NRL and even more so than usual, the spotlight will be firmly on Gerard Sutton, all alone out there in the middle. To note: Belinda Sharpe, who made history as the first woman to referee an NRL game in July, has been relegated to the touchlines and will be joined by fellow touchie Phil Henderson there.
There is also the small matter of a rule change: the six-again rule will be employed for the first time as of tonight, with six additional tackles awarded for ruck infringements – an attempt to speed up the game. It has only ever been trialled once before – in an Indigenous All-Stars game in 2012 – and quite who the rule stands to benefit has been the subject of much debate in recent weeks. Another one to watch. As Larissa O’Connor wrote today:
“Teams would be well advised to watch the early games this round to gauge how the rule will be enforced, how it may open up attacking opportunities and to what extend it could wear down defending sides, particularly in the latter stages of a game.”
Read more on that here:
FOUR HOURS TO GO!
Strong words from V’landys, but hardly surprising given the stance he has taken in his quest to get the ball rolling again. Yet, as Nick Tedeschi wrote on these pages earlier this week, “For good or ill, V’landys has bulldozed a path for the game’s return and to label him one of the most omnipotent figures in Australia is not hyperbole. He has defied the prime minister and state premiers, taken the fight to broadcasters and unions, unilaterally changed the laws of the game and obliterated rivals along the way.”
Nick goes on: “V’landys was twice chastised by Scott Morrison for declaring the Warriors would be given a travel exemption, yet they set up camp in Tamworth and will play on Saturday. It has been a high-risk gambit. Governments can and will shut the game down the moment there is a health breach. Failure to have the backing of health departments and public officials gives the game zero wiggle room if something goes wrong. A thirst for brinksmanship and risk has its downside and his making, of course, could yet be his breaking.”
Read the full article:
FOUR AND A HALF HOURS TO GO!
Where to begin? Honestly, I don’t know. It’s been an, um, eventful couple of months. How about the latest on the NRL’s idea to get fans back into stadiums by 1 July, a plan that has already been dismissed by the Australian Medical Association president (“absurd and dangerous”) and treated with caution by state governments (“not on the list yet”).
NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian, who said on Monday “certainly we’re not in that space yet”, has doubled down on that view today. “A lot of people are looking forward [to NRL being back on TV]. I’m glad it gives some normality back to NSW,” she said. “[But] I can’t see [crowds returning] by that date.”
Not that the opinion of a state premier is likely to deter Peter V’landys, the ARLC chairman. He reckons he knows best and is adamant a crowd should be allowed back into stadiums – not just by 1 July either.
“There should be [fans allowed at tonight’s game]. I see no reason why there can’t be,” V’landys said on 2GB. “And you have to base it on data, not emotional scare-mongering cliches. That’s what they do. They bring up these cliches that put fear into people.
“They’ve got no data to show. The infection rate is less than half a per cent – how low do we need to get it? I just can’t believe what we’re going through at the moment because our infection rate is less than half a per cent and has been for 40 or 50 days.
“When we stopped playing the game it was 25.5%. There’s a level of risk in anything you do in life. What we have to be doing is assessing the risk and acting accordingly, rather than having this overall blanket policy that is stifling everyone.”
Wow. But there won’t be fans tonight, because health experts have ruled it’s not safe. And even if they were allowed into Suncorp, would it really be worth it? Megan Maurice asked that very question yesterday.
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Preamble
Sport! Real, actual, professional live sport! It’s been what seems like an age since Australians last had the chance to watch a sporting event, but here we are, finally, with the NRL – trailblazers in their own way – on the cusp of becoming the first major league in the country to get back down to business on a pitch.
It’s been exactly 67 days since the referee’s whistle brought an end to the NRL as we knew it, back on 22 March, before the Covid-19 pandemic brought the league – and all sport around the globe, with a few notable exceptions (hello Belarus!) – to a shuddering halt.
Sixty-seven days of initial uncertainty, which gradually gave way to optimism and finally, a date of 28 May set in stone as the day the NRL would resume. That, of course, massively simplifies the process the league has gone through to get to this point – the ups and downs, the barriers hurdled or simply ran around, the bonkers plans that never got off the ground (RIP NRL Island) – but more on all that to come as we count down to kick-off at Suncorp Stadium.
Brisbane and Parramatta – the latter who were involved in that final, pre-shutdown game – have the honour of getting things back up and running tonight and, regardless of the significance of the event in its broader context, it should be a belter of a match.
Stick with is throughout the afternoon. Send an email if you wish (mike.hytner@theguardian.com) or tweet @mike_hytner if that’s more your thing. To say there are plenty of discussion points is an understatement. It’s *checks clock* exactly 2:52pm AEST, and that means there are...
FIVE HOURS TO GO!
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