NRL chairman Peter V'Landys has said that the league will go back to a standard format for the 2021 season.
V'Landys spoke to Andrew Voss on 1170 SEN and stated that the NRL is in a position to return to a pre-COVID season plan.
“We’re going to go back to normal next season.
“We’ve experienced COVID, we know how to handle COVID, and I don’t think the protocols will be as strict (in 2021).
“As you said earlier, there’s now a possibility of a vaccine, and that changes the whole thing completely.
“If the vaccine doesn’t come through and we have to live through COVID, it all depends on the community infections, and we always base our decisions on the data.
“In Australia, we’re very lucky that community infections are zero, and while they’re zero, we can live our lives pretty normally.
“However, if there is an outbreak of community transmission, we’ll need to increase our protocols again.
“But we’ve been through the worst of COVID in Australia with the protocols, and we’ve proven we can play while COVID’s there, and with community infections.
”I think we’re pretty right for next year, with the learnings of this year. That we can run the whole season and go back to normal."
The chairman also mentioned that if player hub rules exist next year, they most likely would be a lot more relaxed than this seasons.
“The players are out of the bubble at the moment, they’ve sacrificed a lot this year and they’re having a well-earned holiday for the next few weeks...
“I don’t think the protocols will be as strict, with community infections being lower than they were throughout this year.”
