Canberra Raiders expect NRL to boot COVID-19 protocols

The federal and state governments all decided to abandon quarantine requirements for anyone who caught COVID-19 as of Friday - effectively making it no different to any other illness.

Like the rest of society, NRL players were also required to isolate as part of the competition's Apollo protocols.

But Furner expected that would now be scrapped in the wake of the transition away from quarantining.

It could also mean the players and staff would no longer be required to test on an almost daily basis.

Raiders star Jack Wighton, who Australia coach Mal Meninga named on the bench for the Kangaroos' World Cup opener against Fiji on Sunday, was forced to miss State of Origin II this year after contracting the coronavirus.

He was the NSW Blues' best player in the Origin series opener.

Queensland talisman Cameron Munster was ruled out of the Origin decider, allowing North Queensland half Tom Dearden to make his Maroons debut in their upset win.

The Raiders' pre-season ground to halt just before Christmas when a COVID-19 outbreak went through the squad forcing them all into isolation.

The NRL was the first professional sport to return to playing at the start of the pandemic in 2020, introducing a raft of stringent protocols to get back on the field.

Crowds were banned at one stage and they went into a Queensland bubble for the final eight rounds of the 2021 season.

Slowly the restrictions have eased over the past two-and-a-half years and Furner expected that would continue now the National Cabinet had abolished quarantine requirements.

"That's a very good question. I assume we'll just fall in with the rest of society," Furner said.

"It'll be like carrying injuries then or the flu. If you're out you're out, or if you're good enough.

"I assume there can be no other way for us to do that. But we haven't gotten anything [yet].

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"They'll review those protocols and then we'll have all these pre-season meetings.

"But that's a relief because we've had to do testing for two years and quarantining and bubbles."

Furner reflected on the past three seasons, which have been like no other in the history of Australian sport.

The Raiders were forced to play some of their home games in front of empty stands at Campbelltown Stadium in 2020, before being allowed to return to reduced-capacity crowds at Canberra Stadium.

"It seem a long time ago now, but god it was bizarre when I think about 2020 - bizarre," Furner said.

"Playing in front of nobody, all that stuff just seems so bizarre now."

Meanwhile, Raiders coach Ricky Stuart was prompted to bolster his hooking stocks off the back of young rake Adrian Trevilyan's late-season knee injury.

Trevilyan tore his anterior cruciate ligament late in the season meaning the Green Machine would only have two hookers in the senior squad for the 2023 campaign - Tom Starling and Zac Woolford.

That led to interest in former Huddersfield No.9 Danny Levi to help fill the void and boost competition after his Super League club released him on compassionate grounds.

It's believed Levi has agreed to terms on a two-year-deal to join Canberra.

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