The NRL will follow the AFL into suspension after the league ran out of options to keep the game going amid the coronavirus crisis.

League bosses have been meeting throughout the day after the announcement that borders would be closed but plans were extinguished late on Monday with the NRL to officially announce the suspension at 6pm.

Non-essential staff have already been put on annual leave until at least May 1 with NRL HQ to shut down.

Here’s the latest:

NRL SET TO SUSPEND SEASON

The NRL have suspended the 2020 season just two rounds into the season

“As we said from the outset, the paramount consideration in our decision making process has always been the safety and health of our players,” ARLC chairman Peter V’landys said.

“Unfortunately that’s taken a dramatic turn today. Our pandemic expert and biosecurity expert, have said due to the rapid rate of infection, we can no longer guarantee the safety of our players to continue to play.

“Accordingly we are suspending the season. We aren’t going to put a time period to the suspension, we are going to look at every available option to us to recommence the season … every option is still on the table.”

He said the NRL’s pandemic expert is worried by the rapid rate of the infection.

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NRL CEO Todd Greenberg said the choice to shut the season down because the conditions “had shifted so dramatically and exponentially”.

V’landys said one of the reasons was to allow the New Zealand Warriors to return home. He also said conditions changed very quickly.

But it leaves NRL clubs in crisis with the competition and clubs facing financial ruin as a result.

“It’s catastrophic, I don’t think we’ve ever come across a financial crisis like this,” he said. “We’re all affected, we’ve led by example by cutting our expenditure immediately and we’re hoping the clubs will do the same very quickly. We’ll sit down with the players in the next week to see how they’re affected. This is a financial crisis, you can’t understate it, it’s probably the biggest financial crisis the game will ever face in its history, but cooperatively and united we will deal with it and hopefully we’ll come out the other end.”

V’landys wasn’t able to ensure the NRL would survive in its current form but said there was a future for the sport.

“Rugby league will always survive in some way, I can’t guarantee it will be in the same way it is at the moment,” he said. “No one knows, no one can tell us how long this pandemic will last. In the last 24 hours, it changed dramatically. In the next 24 hours it could even change even further, so we’re ready for the worst and we’ve got to look at dealing with the worst and that’s exactly what we’ll be doing in the next couple of weeks.”

Greenberg said the players and executives will have to reset the cost base.

But he said “rugby league will rise again” but didn’t sugar coat the challenges ahead.

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The news leaked out after 5pm with Channel 9’s Danny Weidler reporting that over the last half an hour that the season is set to follow the AFL’s lead and suspend the season.

While the NRL has been pushing to keep playing throughout the coronavirus, Weidler said the NRL were set to link up with teams at 5.45pm before a press conference at 6pm.

With staff being stood down until May 1, the speculation has ramped up that the competition was left with little choice but to suspend the season.

Looks like the NRL has finally had their light bulb 💡 moment with an announcement coming just after 6 AEDT that the season is on hold. — Julian Abbott (@JulianBAbbott) March 23, 2020

NRL season on hold - the last domino to fall. — Simon Orchard (@orch3) March 23, 2020

#Breaking. Channel Nine news now reporting it looks like sanity will prevail and they ARE going to shut it down.



Mr Morrison, you must step in and shut down the NRL https://t.co/DEXhIPY8vc via @smh — Peter FitzSimons (@Peter_Fitz) March 23, 2020

TWO STATE TWIST TO NRL PLAN

While the NRL is looking like it’s heading towards a shut down, there are reportedly still options at play despite the Queensland borders being shut down.

Fox Sports’ James Hooper reported the league could split up its teams with the three Queensland teams — Brisbane, North Queensland and the Gold Coast — and New Zealand playing in Queensland, while the rest of the teams may play in NSW.

The NRL have until Wednesday before the borders are closed with the Melbourne Storm and Canberra Raiders could also be relocated to play games.

The NRL are reportedly waiting on word from the Queensland government on whether elite sporting teams will be exempt, as they are in South Australia but it could be the way to keep the sport alive.

Todd Greenberg will reportedly have a phone hook up with all 16 NRL clubs at 5pm.

But Channel 9 reporter Cam Williams doesn’t believe it will be enough.

Breaking. Sounding like #NRL is going to call time on the competition. No other option really — Cameron Williams (@camjwilliams) March 23, 2020

Another day where future of NRL changing by hour. But zero love out there for Gladstone idea. Players haven’t even been briefed on it ... — christian nicolussi (@mrchrisnico) March 23, 2020

It’s also been reported that the NRL HQ has shut down until May 1 with non-essential staff forced to take leave.

No jobs have been cut as yet with staff reportedly encouraged to go into negative leave.

‘THIS IS HUGE’: QUEENSLAND’S BIG CALL

Queensland has announced it is closing its borders, which could have huge ramifications for the NRL.

Last night league bosses were reportedly in discussions about relocating all 16 teams to Queensland, possibly the small regional town of Calliope.

But the move by the state government to shut its borders may make it more difficult for the NRL to continue its season.

Channel 9 sports reporter Danika Mason tweeted: “This is huge. Massive hurdle now for the NRL.”

AAP’s Steve Zemek wrote: “Well there goes the NRL's plan to shift all 16 teams to Gladstone.”

Sports reporter Ed Jackson added: “Surely Qld closing borders is the death knell on any further A-League of NRL.”

However, Queensland-based Channel 7 reporter Chris Garry says this move was expected by the NRL.

“The NRL and Qld clubs expected this announcement today and this morning believed it would NOT impact the competition continuing,” Garry tweeted.

HEARTBROKEN EDDIE’S MESSAGE TO NRL

A heartbroken Eddie McGuire says he has no issues with the NRL pushing ahead with its season even after the AFL was forced to hit pause on its campaign because of the coronavirus outbreak.

AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan confirmed on Sunday the competition would be suspended for at least two months as the government announced strict new measures to try and slow the spread of the virus.

Collingwood president McGuire was brought onto an emergency committee formed to deal with the challenges facing footy because of the global pandemic and was involved in the meetings which led to the season being put on ice, which he said on Channel 9’s Today was “absolutely heartbreaking”.

Asked about the NRL’s decision to play on, McGuire said he had no problem with the rival code trying to stay afloat.

“It’s a different competition,” McGuire said. “They only play in … three states but with one team in Melbourne, whereas the AFL, once the borders closed in South Australia and Western Australia, well it became self-evident that we couldn’t go on with it.

“The NRL – good luck to them for having the best go they possibly can. I don’t think it’s time to be nitpicking on anyone else. They’ve been making the decisions with the information they have in front of them.”

SPLIT IN THE RANKS

South Sydney CEO Blake Solly has been removed from a committee set up to deal with the financial challenges facing the NRL, The Daily Telegraph reports.

The Telegraph reports Solly was told by head office his services were no longer required despite being one of the sharpest operators in rugby league.

Some have speculated Solly is a candidate to one day replace Todd Greenberg as NRL CEO, and Melbourne Storm chairman Bart Campbell says clubs deserve answers about why the Rabbitohs boss was cast aside.

"All we're looking for is transparency and fairness," Campbell said. "It won't help us to achieve that by not having Blake in there. I'd like the NRL to explain why he's not there to help work through the many challenges."

GREENBERG GETTING GOVERNMENT ADVICE TODAY

media_camera NRL CEO Todd Greenberg. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

NRL CEO Todd Greenberg says the NRL will try and push on with its season, even as he acknowledged that will become more difficult as concern about coronavirus increases.

On Sunday, Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) Chairman Peter V’landys confirmed the league would continue and Greenberg says the NRL won’t give up hope on putting games on for as long as possible.

There was widespread disbelief in Australia that rugby league was still going ahead as Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the closure of all pubs, clubs and entertainment venues. Speaking to Triple M Sydney’s Lawrence Mooney & Jess Eva this morning, Greenberg spoke about the uncertainty the code is facing as it balances the financial incentive for playing with “community standards” about combating coronavirus.

“I think that in community standards the virus is going to continue to get more difficult to combat,” Greenberg said.

“What that means for us I’m not sure … what I said last week still stands, 2020 won’t be a straight line. We are going to have some bumps in the road and I think we are going to get stopped occasionally. But … we are going to try to keep the games going.”

The AFL might have put its season on hold but Greenberg says the NRL has been encouraged by different levels of government to continue as long as it is safe to do so, and added it was important to try and push ahead to give people some semblance of normality during this crisis.

“We have been encouraged by both governments to keep going,” Greenberg said.

“In times of great difficulty, particularly for communities, one of the last pieces that they can hold onto is live sport and having some interaction over the weekend, and there’s not much left, to be frank, in this point in time.

“So if we can keep our game alive then I think that has a variety of positives in it. But we are obviously realists.

“We are going to keep trying, we haven’t given up hope yet.

“Our circumstances are a little different to the AFL, although in saying that we are going to take advice today from both federal and state government, and obviously our health experts. And if we can continue to play which is what our desire has been all along, then we will continue to do so.”

Originally published as ‘Catastrophic’: NRL suspended indefinitely