The NRL season continues as usual after the AFL season has become chaotic due to Queensland Health’s restrictions for teams playing against Victorian rivals

Queensland Health announced Monday that it would impose a 14-day quarantine on state sports teams playing against Melbourne rivals.

It has forced the AFL to work on its schedule. Richmond should play Gold Coast vs. West Coast at Metricon Stadium on Thursday night. The Tigers will likely stay in Victoria and instead play Melbourne this weekend.

An increase in cases of illness in Melbourne means that the storm at the AAMI stadium cannot play home games because of the risk of transmission to other NRL teams traveling to the city.

A zoom meeting on Sunday evening between acting director of the NRL, Andrew Abdo, and the management of the Storm, as well as senior football officials, showed that it is possible that players may not be able to return to Melbourne this season.

The storm shifted to the Sunshine Coast this weekend, a precautionary step before changes to the Queensland government’s border restrictions.

All players and employees in Melbourne in the club’s biosafety bubble were tested negative for COVID-19 before flying to Queensland.

The Victorian Health Department announced that there were 75 cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, the fourth highest daily increase in the state since the pandemic began.

Testing for COVID-19 in Melbourne was strengthened after a higher frequency of home and work transmissions, forcing the state government to identify hotspots and perform random tests.

About 21 members of the Storm family moved north to the base of the club at the Twin Waters Resort after the Friday game against the Warriors in Sydney.

According to Queensland Health sources, remaining family members would need to be isolated in a separate wing of the resort and tested on days one, seven, and 14 before being allowed to reconnect to the rest of the group.

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The squad coached on Monday at Sunshine Coast Stadium, home to its feeder team, the Falcons, in the players’ first session since leaving Sydney after the Warriors match.

Craig Bellamy’s team meets the Roosters on Thursday evening at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane in a repeat of the 2018 grand finale.

The NRL and AFL will not sell tickets to Victorians if the NSW venues are allowed to be filled for games with a 25 percent capacity starting this week.