Canberra Raiders Cup and grassroots competitions set for July re-start

The NSWRL board announced on Wednesday they would work towards restarting grassroot seasons in July, with players able to return to training from the start of that month.

The return date will be reviewed and confirmed on June 1 depending on state government advice.

Canberra Region Rugby League general manager Mark Vergano said they would start consulting with clubs and sharing competition models for a potential July start.

"It's good for us and our clubs, it gives everyone a focus to work towards now," Vergano said.

"We've been modelling what competitions might look like, what the timing might be and so on. So this gives us clear focus and makes discussions with our clubs somewhat easier.

"We've got different models and we'll start to share those with our clubs from different categories, the Canberra Raiders Cup, George Tooke Shield and junior competitions.

"We'll work with them to maximise the time available to us and make sure there's some competition integrity built into that as well."

Both junior and senior rugby league in Canberra had initially been pushed back until at least early May due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The CRRL has been working closely with ACT Sport and Recreation and Vergano says they'll manage any potential issues if state government advice differs.

He also backed NSWRL's decision to give any competition restart at least two weeks of preparation time to ensure players are physically ready to take the field.

"We're very comfortable with that and our clubs thought it was necessary," Vergano said.

Meanwhile the top-tier competitions in NSW, including the Canterbury Cup, Jersey Flegg, Harold Matthews, SG Ball and Tarsha Gale Cup remain cancelled.

The NSWRL Board determined there would be no premiers or awards for those competitions this year.