The NRL will see eight clubs end their season this weekend as the finals prepare to commence.
All of the Canterbury Bulldogs, Brisbane Broncos, North Queensland Cowboys, Wests Tigers, St George Illawarra Dragons and New Zealand Warriors will play their final game, while two of the Gold Coast Titans, Canberra Raiders and Cronulla Sharks will join them.
But the NRL have reportedly warned clubs to be on their best behaviour while still in Queensland's bubble which has allowed the season to continue despite the COVID outbreaks and lockdown measures in Sydney and Melbourne.
While players are expected to be flown back to their home bases in the coming weeks, NRL CEO Andrew Abdo has told The Sydney Morning Herald that players must be on their best behaviour while in Queensland, and that typical Mad Monday celebrations shouldn't occur.
That will be helped along by the fact players are not allowed to visit pubs (although they can visit restaurants and bars) under the NRL's biosecurity arrangements with the Queensland government.
โThere wonโt be any memos sent but we will talk to the clubs,โ Abdo told the publication.
โThis is a different year and different season, we want to make sure we maintain our discipline all the way through, and weโll have a discussion about how we do that, how we exit the season and make sure we have no issues that concern us.
โAll the families are there with the clubs and it makes sense to have a dinner with the families and for us to not be in a position where weโre reading about any incidents that are occurring.โ
Mad Monday has previously been the source of plenty of NRL off-field incidents, and the competition are keen to ensure there is no repeat in 2021.
While there is no doubting it has been a tough season for players, the prevalence and chance of a Mad Monday incident may also be reduced by the fact that all teams have families in their bubbles.
It's unclear how quickly the NRL will fly teams back to Sydney, however, it's understood players off-season breaks will be extended by two weeks to allow for extra time to recover from the two months or more of living away from home, as well as to ensure as many players are vaccinated against COVID-19 as possible before the commencement of pre-season.
