NRL clubs will commence training on May 4 after ARL commissioner Wayne Pearce confirmed that the league would stick to its May 28 start date.
Pearce emerged from the NRL's 'Project Apollo' meeting, notifying reporters that despite the entire country still being in lockdown, that the NRL was proceeding with it's intentions to restart the competition quicker than any of its rival codes.
"Project Apollo meeting just concluded this afternoon," he said.
"We looked at where we go to from here and we reaffirmed May 28 is the starting date for the competition.
"We also confirmed that teams will be able to train from May 4th, start team and group training from May 4th.
"We got to the next stage of a whole lot of protocols. In terms of bio-security protocols, working with independent experts and taking their advice on board.
"The next stage is to take what we discussed today and get that out to the clubs to get some feedback."
Pearce also revealed that the NRL has the support of the government of New South Wales.
"We actually have permission from the government," he said.
"We're allowed to play, provided we adhere to the public health guidelines. We intend to exceed what the public health guidelines are.
"What we're doing is, we're going through a process where we're letting the government know exactly what our standards are so we're transparent around that."
According to Nine News, the NRL will have it's own coronavirus testing regime that is independent of the public health system, with the league willing to pay "over and above" for testing.
The NRL's only internationally-based team, the NZ Warriors, will be allowed to arrive in Australia prior to the May 4th training commencement date, with the players set to be given exemption from the country's strict isolation protocols.
While the Warriors players will have to quarantine for 14 days, they will still be allowed to train together during the 14-day period in order to prepare for the season restart.
Along with the Warriors, the three Queensland-based clubs, as well as the Melbourne Storm will all be required to base themselves in NSW.
Despite the NRL having doubled down on it's start date, the league is yet to confirm when the season will finish.
The NRL's free-to-air broadcaster Nine and the pay-TV broadcaster Fox Sports are yet to sign off on the length of the season.
Both the NRL and it's broadcasters are expected to settle on a date for the 2020 NRL Grand Final as well as a date for the 2020 State of Origin series by next week.
MORE TO COME
from WWOS http://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/nrl-confirms-may-28-start-date-may-4-return-to-practice-wayne-pearce/b3fc9189-1dfb-43ae-97a6-d88cfffc9e6c
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