Mar 15th, 2020

Mar 15th, 2020

The NRL season is teetering on the verge of collapse after the Warriors' playing group reportedly voted to against the league's plea for the entire squad to remain in Australia for the foreseeable future amid the coronavirus pandemic.

On Sunday morning, league boss Todd Greenberg announced the Warriors would remain in Australia after New Zealand instated a compulsory 14-day quarantine for all arrivals coming into the country.

The decree would have thrown the league into meltdown with the Warriors unable to make scheduled matches and teams unable to travel and play in the neighbouring country. The problem was only made more complicated when Australia instated their own version of the decree.

For the time being the Warriors will set up camp in Kingscliff before their round two match against the Raiders in a rescheduled fixture on the Gold Coast.

Warriors reportedly vote to not remain in Australia past Round 2. (Getty) (Getty)

While the league looked to have potentially dodged a bullet, it has now been revealed that the Warriors playing group has voted not to remain in Australia beyond round two.

A Courier Mail report claims the Warriors agreed to remain in Australia for a further seven days when New Zealand instated its quarantine late last night, but rejected the league's plea for them to remain in Australia for a further 16 days.

Warriors boss Cameron George said the squad will meet again next week to determine if they would like to extend their stay or stick with the original decision to return to New Zealand to be with their families who have been forced, at the drop of a hat, to carry on without them.

The increasingly problematic scenario of keeping the league running has pushed the season to a point of collapse with the NRL having to face the very real scenario of suspending the competition, as the rest of the world's codes have done.

Suspension of NRL games inevitable: Gallop

If the current state of affairs continue, it means the Warriors must stay in Australia, potentially for months, for the NRL competition to continue - that's outside the very likely threat of the league suspending earlier should a player could become infected with the coronavirus.

Earlier, former NRL chief David Gallop told Nine it was only a matter of time before the league was suspended.

"I think it's inevitable we're going to see games stopped," Gallop said on Sports Sunday.

"I think in a contact sport, the chances of this spreading amongst the playing group's got to be high."

Manly ball boys disinfect balls

The development comes as Rugby League Players Association chief executive Ian Prendergast revealed that the NRL's stars are anxious about having to travel to keep the season alive as well as the health of their families.

"There's a decent level of anxiety among them, particularly around travel as opposed to playing in front of empty stadiums," he said.

"It's not really about their health but in relation to the health of their young families or grandparents, and it's natural for them to have those concerns.

"We're doing everything we can to give them as much information as the NRL is privy to from government experts."