COULD it be July at the earliest before we see another game of Super League?

There is much speculation about how the season could resume and potentially be completed, but the coronavirus pandemic continues to leave so many unknowns.

LATEST NEWS:

A statement from Leeds Rhinos this afternoon could be said to be indicating there will be no matches until July, at the earliest.

Included in the statement were the paragraphs:

“Our Board of Directors have been working tirelessly to plot a course for the club and our business to steer a way through the current stormy waters we find ourselves in.

“We are carefully controlling our costs. Earlier this month, 150 staff, including our players, coaches, office staff and Directors were placed on furlough as part of the government’s job retention scheme. That will remain the case for nearly all staff until at least the end of June.”

The caveat to that is that furlough can be cancelled with two days’ notice, so it’s possible players, coaches, backroom staff and administrators could be recalled earlier if it is deemed safe to resume action in a competition that’s been suspended since the middle of March.

The fact that France has banned sport with crowds until at least July 11 gives another indication of the possible timescales we’re looking at.

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS:

There has been talk of the rugby league season at Super League and Championship level resuming behind closed doors.

One model that’s been reported is for all Super League games to take place at one venue over a weekend, with all of the games televised – two shown on Sky Sports as per schedule and the other four available on pay-per-view.

This would be a way of meeting broadcasting contracts, reducing costs, earning clubs some much needed revenue, and giving the sport-loving public a boost in morale.

The players would be tested for Covid-19 and tightly managed on a match day, while continuing to train on their own during the week.

There’s lots of other speculation on how and when the season could restart, but nothing is official.

STATE OF PLAY:

All that we know for sure is that the UK lockdown extension means there will definitely be no Warrington Wolves Super League action until mid-May at the earliest, and the club’s fixture list reflects this.

Wolves last played at Hull on March 12, when they won 38-4

That result left them fourth on the ladder behind leaders Wigan Warriors, second-placed Castleford Tigers and third-placed Leeds Rhinos – who have two games in hand, as do fifth-placed Huddersfield Giants who are only behind The Wire on points difference

Warrington won four of their seven rounds before the suspension, their other successes being at home to Saints (19-0), home to Toronto (32-22) and home to Castleford Tigers (9-8)

Since then there have been five postponements – Hull KR away on March 22, Catalans Dragons at home on March 27, Wigan Warriors away in the Challenge Cup on April 4/5, Salford Red Devils at home on April 11, Huddersfield Giants away on April 19

We know definitely Leeds Rhinos at home this Friday, Hull KR away on April 30 and any subsequent Challenge Cup quarter-final on May 9-10 will be postponed due to the lockdown – that will take the sequence to 8 postponements

The next possible contest, then, is home to Castleford Tigers on May 16

And the round scheduled after that is the Magic Weekend in Newcastle, where The Wire are slated to face Wigan Warriors.