https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/59884125 Confirmation, not that we needed it, of the muppets who rule/ruin our game.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/59884125 Confirmation, not that we needed it, of the muppets who rule/ruin our game.

Perhaps the England cricketers should have played the covid card.. I think scrums should be left alone for at least another season but 48 points seems draconian.

Saddened,

Paragraph 2 almost sounds Trump-esque! 'We won, you cheated'.

Seriously though, are you suggesting clubs 'faked' covid test results?
That would be so easy to check up on that it's not a credible argument.

So I assume you must be referring to clubs saying their players aren't available through a combination of covid and injury. That's possible I suppose. Most clubs have around 30 named players in their squad so that means more than 13 would need to fall into those categories...... mmm.

Last season yes I totally am saying clubs exploited it. You could name players as close contacts of anyone who had a positive test. So one player getting covid could result in enough being named as contacts to get a game off. Cas once named their entire first team and entire academy as close contacts. I had an exchange on Twitter over that with their club Doctor and he assured me it was genuine. I'm sure it was from a medical perspective, but how can a club who have proper covid protocols allow ALL their playing stock to be in the same place at the same time? I was critical of Saints when we did it too. We could easily have played the game after Wembley, but got it called off to give ourselves a two week break. We didn't cheat in that the rules were weak, but we cynically exploited the regulations to suit our season, which isn't right. Last season there would likely always have been someone in a club with covid, so it was wide open for abuse.

This coming season is incredibly likely to see more covid cases. Omicron is everywhere and unless it burns through quickly and rates drop drastically, there are going to be cases at each club all the time, at least until it's warmer. If clubs could just add the injured to their covid positives and get the game off, it would again be wide open to be exploited, like is happening in football.

I understand your points and agree to an extent.
Obviously you've taken the time to try to make sense of this mess. Fair play.

The rules regarding self isolation have changed somewhat now and I do suspect they will be loosened further in tbe coming weeks - once the numbers start to come down (my guess - and it is purely a guess - is that this will be in mid/late February), so whether we'll really get a repeat of 2021 is anyones guess.
Its certainly worth understanding why the likes of Cas appear to have been in the position they have been, and to get them to change their 'standards' and 'behaviours'. What I don't want to see is players put under pressure to play when they either have covid, are in the recovery phase or are self isolating in line with government guidelines (player welfare etc). We already have too many players playing through the pain barrier for the sake of the team. (The number of end of season operations is quite frightening).
I know you're not suggesting that.

It may come to the stage where we all have to 'live with it' - but I could imagine some further restrictions put in place. (Not lockdown as such though).
Anyway let's see. I think there will be a few more twists and turns before the season starts.

Not aware of figures for the players not vaccinated.
In soccer it's about 25% from what I last heard a few weeks ago.
I did hear rumours of players not being allowed to play unless vaccinated because of the nature of contact sport. Interesting times.