In some very disappointing news it looks unlikely that Australia will play any Rugby League test matches in 2020.
With players in an NRL Covid Bubble and State Of Origin to be played at the end of the 2020 NRL season, it is thought that the games elite players in Australia will be best served by having a break over the off season rather than playing test matches.
It is understandable, it probably is needed, but it is still very disappointing.
State Of Origin will generate a lot of much needed money in what has been a disrupted 2020 season. The margins are a lot thinner when it comes to international football. That fine balancing act is probably what finally saw the decision made to pull the pin.
Hopefully this doesn’t take away the impetus for other nations to play some test football. The likes of Tonga, Samoa, PNG and Fiji need to get some football under their bests and surely have the ability to play some level of football after coming out of the NRL Covid Bubble.
New Zealand is a whole other issue.
They could easily play some football against any of the nations above, but you tend to find that the NZRL is completely useless when it comes to setting up any sport of competition of their own volition.
The lack of test football being played by Australia is the first time the Kangaroos won’t play test football in a colander year for decades. It just add to the strange situation we have all found ourselves dealing with during 2020.
