If you're late for pre-season training you'll be fined.....not to mention clauses in your contract barring you from Amy activity that may injure you causing your employer more expense.
Legal or not, the NRL clubs tell players where and when.....and I suspect very few will be flying north this autumn.

https://www.nrl.com/news/2021/07/23/fin ... next-week/ There are some good arguments in this. Quote The health of our players comes first, self-interest and tournaments comes second in our eyes,.The announcement by the ARLC and NZRL on Thursday was met with anger in Britain but V’landys hit back at the criticism and said the welfare of players who had been forced to relocate to Queensland and concerns about them catching COVID in the UK were behind the decision. "The health of our players comes first, self-interest and tournaments comes second in our eyes," V’landys told 2GB. "They can carry on as much as they like but we make no apology that we first take into account the health of our players. "It is a world tournament and I don’t begrudge that but our players have had a very tough year. They are currently in Queensland away from home, they are in isolation for 14 days up there, then they’d have to go to England and come back to isolate for another 14 days. It is just too much. "There are 40,000 positives per day in England of COVID-19. There’s 600,000 people this week in isolation. The last thing we want to do is take them over there, they catch the virus and they are stuck in a hotel room for 14 days in isolation. They would even have to isolate if they are a close contact "When we did the risk analysis it was too much and our priority has always been the welfare of our players, and we aren’t going to take that risk." New Zealand coach Michael Maguire said he wouldn’t begrudge Kiwis with dual eligibility representing their heritage. Bennett said the fact so many Australian and New Zealand players were eligible for the Pacific nations may be a silver lining for the likes of Tonga, Samoa, PNG, Fiji and the Cook Islands. "If they went of their choice and they could take quality players with them, which they are all in the NRL so they are quality players, it will only enhance their position as far as I can see," Bennett said. "There is a whole lot of nations that make up the World Cup. We are just a part of it." Tonga coach Kristian Woolf told NRL.com he had spoken with his players and they wanted further information, while Samoa's Matt Parish and his Cook Islands counterpart Tony Iro said they were waiting to hear if the tournament would proceed. Peters said comparisons should not be made between the World Cup and other sporting events in England, such as Wimbledon or the end-of-season All Blacks and Wallabies Tests. "It’s a five-week tournament with 31 teams in total on the ground, and a large proportion of those are not vaccinated, for their own personal choice or the slowness of the vaccine program in both Australia and New Zealand," Peters told SEN Radio. "When you see cases explode in the UK, they’ve been up 33 per cent in the last week, we just can’t put our people in that environment. '" Unfortunately the number of covid cases in the UK does give the NRL some kind of get out. You can't argue that the numbers don't look good.

https://www.nrl.com/news/2021/07/23/fin ... next-week/ There are some good arguments in this. Quote The health of our players comes first, self-interest and tournaments comes second in our eyes,.The announcement by the ARLC and NZRL on Thursday was met with anger in Britain but V’landys hit back at the criticism and said the welfare of players who had been forced to relocate to Queensland and concerns about them catching COVID in the UK were behind the decision. "The health of our players comes first, self-interest and tournaments comes second in our eyes," V’landys told 2GB. "They can carry on as much as they like but we make no apology that we first take into account the health of our players. "It is a world tournament and I don’t begrudge that but our players have had a very tough year. They are currently in Queensland away from home, they are in isolation for 14 days up there, then they’d have to go to England and come back to isolate for another 14 days. It is just too much. "There are 40,000 positives per day in England of COVID-19. There’s 600,000 people this week in isolation. The last thing we want to do is take them over there, they catch the virus and they are stuck in a hotel room for 14 days in isolation. They would even have to isolate if they are a close contact "When we did the risk analysis it was too much and our priority has always been the welfare of our players, and we aren’t going to take that risk." New Zealand coach Michael Maguire said he wouldn’t begrudge Kiwis with dual eligibility representing their heritage. Bennett said the fact so many Australian and New Zealand players were eligible for the Pacific nations may be a silver lining for the likes of Tonga, Samoa, PNG, Fiji and the Cook Islands. "If they went of their choice and they could take quality players with them, which they are all in the NRL so they are quality players, it will only enhance their position as far as I can see," Bennett said. "There is a whole lot of nations that make up the World Cup. We are just a part of it." Tonga coach Kristian Woolf told NRL.com he had spoken with his players and they wanted further information, while Samoa's Matt Parish and his Cook Islands counterpart Tony Iro said they were waiting to hear if the tournament would proceed. Peters said comparisons should not be made between the World Cup and other sporting events in England, such as Wimbledon or the end-of-season All Blacks and Wallabies Tests. "It’s a five-week tournament with 31 teams in total on the ground, and a large proportion of those are not vaccinated, for their own personal choice or the slowness of the vaccine program in both Australia and New Zealand," Peters told SEN Radio. "When you see cases explode in the UK, they’ve been up 33 per cent in the last week, we just can’t put our people in that environment. '" Unfortunately the number of covid cases in the UK does give the NRL some kind of get out. You can't argue that the numbers don't look good.

I am totally confused with the talk of players in the NRL playing in this tournament who represent the non ANZAC nations. The whole reason them two pulled out was safety concerns. If non ANZAC NRL players are allowed to play can someone please explain to me how Aus and NZ have any argument to have made this decision. How can you claim safety and player welfare when you are allowing everyone outside of the aus and NZ teams play in England and have no issue with them coming back home.

If this was to happen then RFL & Co have to seek legal action for sure. I don't see how you can argue that Tom Burgess who lives in Sydney can play but his teammate Damian Cook who also lives in Sydney can not.

They haven't actually explicitly said they can't play. They have only said Aus and NZ are pulling out. They don't have authority to speak for the Pacific nations but yes as I understand it the clubs now can refuse players permission to travel as the NRL have deemed it unsafe.

I'd be interested to know what player's contracts say about them being released for an international game, these happen mid NRL season so it must have come up before. If a player has it in their contract they can play for their country then how could the club stop them?

Then the club's need to come out now and address this and declare their position. I could see some legal action happening if non ANZAC players are told by any club they are not allowed to play.

INSURANCE........pretty simple really.
The NRL clubs cover their players' insurance, Rugby League Italy with a market value of 2 bob don't.....so Players can claim they want to......but who covers an ACL injury, or a career-ender?
The NRL clubs can and will stop their player taking part.

As for an invitational team like the tongan farce last time........no thanks. Hold the tournament, and if England win it then send them on a round the world exhibition tour as WORLD CHAMPIONS.......'Strayans would hate that. It'd make them more like the AFL......ie, a local sport than nobody else plays and that's why you think your're good....but you ain't

Surely there is enough Aussies and Kiwis playing SL and the Championship who could represent Australia and NZ ?

They would probably still kick our Backsides !

I dont think SL have done the WC any favours really by cancelling games and 'giving' games because of covid. The game over here is a Joke at the moment and we are living here double jabbed just waiting to catch the bloody virus, because thats the governments strategy !!

I see both sides to the story, but if the Economy is now taking priority (and I think it is), then the WC needs to go ahead. Its just a shame that everyone cant p*** in the same pot !!!

Again you’re completely wrong.

The only way NRL clubs can stop players representing their country is by underhand means. For example, putting pressure on them to declare themselves unfit - they would then have to prove it. This is why the players union are angry it’s put their members in the awkward position of possible conflict with their clubs.

The other pacific island nations meet this week to decide what they’re going to do. As they have all returned their participation forms they could be sanctioned if they don’t turn up. Some of those countries have said they intend to pick NRL based players and some have said they don’t. The World Cup hangs on that meeting IMO. If they say they decide en masse to not come there isn’t a great deal you can do about it. If they decide to come it puts well over 100 NRL players in the awful position of choosing between representing their country on the biggest stage when their chance of winning has just been given a massive boost or falling out with the club they play for.

Clubs or the NRL have to allow players to play representive footy.

The difference here is the NRLs risk assessment says it not safe so doesn't count as legimitate rep footy.

Someone should tell the NRL CEO then because he’s been in the press saying it’s a players decision to play for a tier 2 nation in the World Cup.