SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MAY 18: Former Penrith Panthers General Manager of Football Phil Gould in the mounting yard to watch his horse Jailbreak compete in race 1 during Sydney Racing at Rosehill Gardens on May 18, 2019 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)
The New Zealand Warriors have revealed they will be open to loaning players to the Canterbury Bulldogs for Friday night's clash with the Brisbane Broncos.
The Bulldogs yesterday became the first club to be struck by multiple COVID cases at the same time during the regular season, with four players testing positive.
Jake Averillo, Ava Seumanufagai, Reece Hoffman and Brent Naden were the four players to test positive, while Paul Alamoti, Braidon Burns, Chris Patolo, Raymond Faitala-Mariner, Jack Hetherington, Matt Doorey, Brandon Wakeham and Corey Allan are all unavailable for selection due to injury.
Bulldogs director of football Phil Gould has confirmed alternative arrangements have already been made for the NSW Cup and Jersey Flegg fixtures, while Jacob Kiraz, Aaron Schoupp, Bailey Biondi-Odo and Billy Tsikrikas have been added to the team.
Gould's primary concern was making sure the game goes ahead, however, with concerns expressed about more positive cases upon arrival in Brisbane which would logistically mean Canterbury may not be able to field a team.
It led to Gould getting in contact with both the Gold Coast Titans and New Zealand Warriors, who are located in the south-east corner of Queensland about the possibility of having loan players on standby.
Warriors CEO Cameron George told Stuff.co.nz that the club would be willing to help if need be, and if they could.
“Gus and I were communicating yesterday and I said we’d help if need be,” George told Stuff.
“I don’t know what that looks like, but if you’re struggling we’d help.
“We would want to help Gus first and foremost and secondly it wasn’t that long ago that we were in that situation.
“As a club, we feel we owe them the opportunity to discuss that with Canterbury if they’re struggling.
"I don’t know whether we’d have any players that would suit them, due to our situation as well, but I have reached out to Phil and we had a chat about it and he appreciated the offer.”
The Warriors have been big users of the loan system over the past three seasons, fielding all of Jack Hetherington, George Jennings and Poasa Faamausili at various points, while Jamayne Taunoa-Brown was loaded out to the St George Illawarra Dragons for a short stint last year.
They also have Jesse Arthars on a season-long loan from the Brisbane Broncos at the club this season.
NRL CEO Andrew Abdo yesterday confirmed the club could bring players in from outside the top 30, but also mentioned four players wasn't a big issue.
“They have four people testing positive at the same time, we need to figure out what has happened there,” Abdo said..
“We already have a system in place that allows clubs to draft in state cup players outside of their top 30. We made a provision for this at the start of the season.
“Four players is not an issue, 14 would be an issue. We’ll work closely with the club and we’ll wait to see, hopefully there are not any more positives, but if they are we have a system in place where they are able to draft players in."
The Bulldogs are expected to travel to Brisbane on Thursday, with kick-off scheduled for 7:55pm (AEST) at Suncorp Stadium on Friday evening.