Australia's NRL game

Australia's NRL game may be called off due to swine flu

Sydney: Australia's National Rugby League game may not go ahead, as six players of the Brisbane Broncos are awaiting results of swine flu tests. Test results of all six players, who took part in State of Origin game, are expected this afternoon. Darren Lockyer, Justin Hodges, Israel Folau, Sam Thaiday and Karmichael Hunt were all quarantined on Monday along with New South Wales halfback Peter Wallace, after Queensland State of Origin player Ben Hannant's case of swine flu was confirmed. Broncos CEO Bruno Cullen said Friday's match against the Bulldogs at Suncorp Stadium would not go ahead if any of his quarantined players tested positive. "We don't want to panic processes in motion, but we're a bit concerned at the moment about the game on Friday night," news.co.su quoted Cullen, as saying. "We're waiting on a further test from Karmichael to confirm or otherwise if he's got swine flu or not. If he has, our entire squad, that's the first grade and under-20 squads, will be put into 72-hour isolation and commence treatment with Tamiflu," he added. Gold Coast Titans trio Luke Bailey, Anthony Laffranchi and Ashley Harrison are due to be released from quarantine on Thursday, just in time to head south for their NRL clash against Sydney. So far, 1224 swine flu cases have been confirmed in Australia, out of which 1011 were reported in Victoria alone. Five new cases were reported overnight in Queensland. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said that since the flu first hit Australia last month, the Government had acted on the best possible advice from health experts. "We currently have some 10.3 million doses available ... and because of the early action our Government has taken we've made sure we're properly provisioned," he said.
-June 9, 2009

Go To Top