Warriors will be stuck in Australia when NRL season is over

The eight-week pause of the trans-Tasman travel bubble means players won’t be able to come home after their last game of the season. By

WARRIORS players and their families will be forced to stay in Australia for at least a week after their last game of the season.

The New Zealand government’s announcement on Friday that there would be an eight-week pause to the transTasman travel bubble means that people will not be allowed to travel from Australia to New Zealand until September 11, without having to go into managed isolation.

The Warriors’ last game of the season is against the Titans on September 5 and unless the team make the finals, which is unlikely, they’ll have to stay in Australia for at least a week after the end of their season before they can come home.

‘‘We’re aware of it, I’ve started talking to the NRL about it,’’ Warriors CEO Cameron George told Sunday News.

‘‘The players are also aware of it, we’ve looked for managed isolation opportunities, but they don’t exist.

‘‘So it looks like we’ll be here for the next eight weeks at least. It will be reviewed by then and at the end that time we’ll hope we can come back to New Zealand.’’

With no available places in managed isolation after the

Titans game, it means there aren’t any options for the Warriors but to wait it out and hope that the coronavirus pandemic is eventually controlled in Australia.

If that doesn’t happen, and it could be months before the Delta variant is stamped out in New South Wales, then they’ll be stuck on the other side of the Tasman for even longer.

‘‘We’ve just got to suck it up and deal with it. There’s nothing else we can do,’’ George said.

The New Zealand government has given Kiwis in Australia seven days to come back before the bubble closes completely.

For the players, they’ll have to remain in Australia for the rest of the season and for families,