NRL aims for May 28: Why not?
May 28 is circled on the calendar.
All things going well, the NRL will return to our screens and a sense of normality will return to our lives.
If things don’t go well, it won’t.
It’s that simple, isn’t it?
The NRL have set a target and are doing everything they can to meet it. While doing everything they can might not be enough if infection rates rise or restrictions increase before May 28, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of harm in trying.
The worst case scenario for the NRL is a delayed start. Should that happen, a lot of the hard work required to restart the competition is already done.
They’ll be ready and waiting for when the go-ahead is given.
Peter V’Landys and company could certainly be doing things differently.
Having somebody — usually V’Landys — front TV cameras twice a day isn’t helping. It’s presented talking heads with soundbites that can be manipulated into miss-truths that generate content one day before the correction generates more content the next.
The use of ‘definite’ in regards to May 28 on Wednesday became one story:
When journalists quite rightfully asked Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk her thoughts on Thursday, she claimed to know nothing about the protocols being put in place to make May 28 a definite:
“There is no detailed plan — I call on the NRL to submit that detailed plan and I will immediately forward it to Dr (Jeannette) Young (Queensland’s Chief Medical Officer) for her consideration and to report back to me”
Of course she didn’t know anything about the plans; the NRL hadn’t yet sent her the 40–50 page document they finalized on Wednesday for her to look over, just like she had asked.
By Friday, the NRL is now ‘pleading’ with the Queensland government.
As somebody desperate to absorb as much rugby league as possible, I’m a sucker for punishment. Still, there are some names that will only get my click for one in every 100 articles published.
Peter FitzSimons got that click during breakfast on Saturday morning.
He applauds Palaszczuk’s “commendable leadership” for dismissing the NRL’s “definite” May 28 start date while leaving out the fact she will be receiving the information over the weekend for Queensland’s Chief Medical Officer to make a decision on.
Next, the “rugby league exceptionalism” of New South Wales comes into question.
Perhaps he doesn’t know his beloved Rugby Union is just as entitled to get things underway too?
Or, is it because nobody will watch it that they won’t bother?
So, one word — “definite” — produced four days of rugby league bashing while the AFL go about planning much of the same and New Zealand Rugby plot a return that could come as early as the first week of June.
It’s incidents like these that give the detractors ammunition and paint the NRL in a bad light when, in reality, they’re making plans to get back on their feet as soon as possible just like any other business.
Again, what’s the harm in trying?
Sending the “wrong message” to dopes on Facebook that think the NRL restarting means they should automatically be able to go back to normal isn’t a reason not to try.
Nor is the idea that May 28 maybe “premature”.
Perhaps it is…
In that case, the date will be pushed out.
The NRL have shut down the competition on medical advice once already. They’re not going to restart the competition if players and staff are going to be in danger, and they can’t restart without the experts signing off on the necessary workplace safety requirements.
My biases towards the May 28 date were clear when it was first announced; rugby league put food on my table. Unfortunately, it no longer does for the foreseeable future. I’m part of the collateral damage no professional sport has had on the sports media industry, but still, as a fan, I’m desperate for footy on May 28.
If those in power get it over the line, great — that’s four nights a week I’m occupied with watching the greatest game in the world. If they don’t, so be it. We’d gone eight weeks already. I’ll happily wait a few more if that’s what it comes to.
But why settle for the latter?
Keep having a crack, NRL.
I’d love nothing more than to be rolling my eyes at a classic #RefsFault at 8:01pm on May 28.
But lets try get to that point while keeping a slightly lower profile.
