With further lockdown restrictions placed on large portions of New South Wales, ARLC chairman Peter V'landys has conceded that game three of this season's Origin series is "highly unlikely" to be played in Sydney.
Earlier on Saturday, NSW residents were told that their initial seven-day stay at home orders had been extended to a fortnight as COVID cases continued to mount.
According toย The Sydney Morning Herald,ย these restrictions are set to ease on July 9 at the latest - just five days before Stadium Australia was set to host the series finale.
When quizzed about the fixture's future on Saturday, V'landys said a range of options were on the table.
โOrigin III is on the drawing board now. There's usually a lag between when a lockdown ends and before you start getting back to normality," he said.
โAt this point it seems highly unlikely it will be at [Stadium Australia], it's just about finding a suitable alternative. There's a number of options available. Newcastle is one, and we'll look at others.
โBut the fact this is going to have an impact on our revenues and costs, we need to try to find something we can make some money out of and Origin can assist us in the challenges we've got ahead. We've got to look at the most viable and profitable way of doing it.โ
Should the move to Newcastle go ahead, a crowd capped at 50% capacity will, at this stage, will be allowed to attend the prospective fixture.
It would also mean that two-thirds of this year's state v state, mate v mate games will take place at venues that weren't originally listed as hosts.
