Inside Rugby League - It is unlikely all teams will complete their already-truncated Super League fixtures, says Peter Smith

The Rugby Football League (RFL) revealed this week a Wigan Warriors player had tested positive for coronavirus following last Thursday’s defeat by Hull KR.

He is now isolating, but test and trace analysis revealed “no close contacts identified, in either the Wigan or Hull KR teams”.

So, considering seven Warrington Wolves were ruled out on track and trace following contact with one Wakefield Trinity player in their game the previous week, what on earth was the Wigan man doing?

Sadly, the terms “track and trace” and “tested positive” are becoming a familiar part of the rugby league vocabulary.

More than half the teams in Betfred Super League have now had at least one positive test and there have also been several cases of players being stood down for allegedly breaching protocols.

Castleford Tigers will be without Jesse Sene-Lefao against Warrington tomorrow after he was identified on track and trace and Dave Fifita, of Wakefield, was dropped after refusing to wear a global positioning system tracker, used as part of the track and trace system.

Clearly, for rugby league’s coronavirus protocols to work, players have to buy-in.

They – and club coaching staff – have made sacrifices, pay cuts being the most high-profile of those, but there is a social network among rugby league players; it is a small world and everyone knows everyone else.

Players and their families often mix with others at their own and rival clubs and that’s particularly true of the overseas contingent who are so far away from family and non-work friends. It is a big ask to expect players – and their families – to give that up.

Everyone in the game is aware of the possible consequences of the season not being fulfilled, but players – by their very nature – are not usually the type of characters to go home after work and shut themselves away from the outside world.

The problem, of course, is once one or two decide to attend a mate’s barbecue or sit in a beer garden after a game, others will inevitably follow and the whole system will unravel.

As this column has mentioned before, rugby league does not have the cash to impose biosecure bubbles, where all players and staff are isolated from the outside world, so the issue of failed tests, or players being stood down because of track and trace is likely to continue.

The big worry is, time is running out. Castleford and Hull are both in Super League action tomorrow and then face each other on Sunday in a delayed Coral Challenge Cup tie. Other than at Easter, clubs are normally guaranteed at least a five-day turnaround and playing twice in four days would not be contemplated.

These are exceptional times and everyone in the sport – the RFL, Super League, clubs and players – are doing all they can to get games on.

Warrington, for example, could have called off last week’s fixture against Hull, but decided to go ahead with an under-strength team.

They should be applauded for that, but “outbreaks” of coronavirus – where two or more players or staff test positive – will inevitably lead to postponements and, at some stage soon, there simply won’t be space in the calendar to fit every game in.

It’s not physically possible to play three games per week on a regular basis, particularly under new rules which have made the sport faster and mean the ball is in play longer.

Aware of that, the governing bodies are understood to be considering deciding final league placings on a points per game basis, if not all teams play an equal number of matches.

Leeds Rhinos director of rugby Kevin Sinfield is in favour of games being awarded to the opposition if one team is unable to play. Neither solution is ideal, but something will have to give because it is looking increasingly unlikely every team will be able to complete a full 22-round season – and, with 2021 being a World Cup year, extending the campaign beyond November would cause even more problems.

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