NRL eyes return date, moves away from ‘bubble’

The NRL has made a bold and ambitious plan to restart the season as early as May. 

The Daily Telegraph is reporting that the NRL had a meeting with Project Apollo on Tuesday with project members Wayne Pearce, Troy Grant, Graham Annesley and a biosecurity expert to get a clearer understanding of when they can return to the field. 

The discussions around resuming the competition included players being forced to self to isolate after games in hotel rooms for 14 days without even making contact with their teammates.

However, The Daily Telegraph reports that the 'NRL is extremely confident it will not have to take such drastic measures.' 

The league is looking at relaxing the 'bubble' idea if infection rates continue to drop and getting the season running by late May. Under these plans, games would be played at the Sydney Olympic Park precinct as the chosen venue with all 16 clubs in one place at the same time. 

Unlike what is happening now and previous plans, in a bid to slow the exposure towards the coronavirus players would be encouraged to self-isolate and instead of locking them away, the NRL would tighten their biosecurity measures when they train and play matches in a bid to keep all involved safe.