Steve Price and Blake Austin working and living in Covid pandemic

Firstly, Price shares his experience of not knowing every day whether one of his players or himself could get caught up with the illness or be sidelined through the track and trace system despite all the safety procedures in place and precautions being taken.

“We speak about it quite regularly in our meetings,” said Price.

“It’s just one of those things where we’ve got to sacrifice a few things in life. For example, we’ve taken our kids off public transport and whether that helps or not I’m not quite sure.

“But we’ve just got to be really diligent on where we’re going and what we’re doing, because you just don’t know.

“At the moment our boys have been class around our organisation. The majority of the boys and staff are just training, working, playing and just repeating that process.

“So it’s just being really mindful of where we’re going and what we’re doing is critical, because you just don’t know with track and trace.”

Austin missed last year’s Challenge Cup Final through injury but now a phone call concerningadded: “Unfortunately it’s just the times we’re in. I think we’ve all had to alter our lives in some capacity.

“I’m a father of four so a lot of the decisions we make are based around what we do out and about with our families.

“But in terms of nerves, it’s just the year that we’re in, the sign of the times and there’s nothing we can do about it.

“Certainly no point sitting around and stressing. We’ve proved on a number of occasions this year that if those calls do come that we’re well equipped for guys to step in and get the job done.

“It’s not a year about moaning it’s just about getting on when we’re faced with those challenges.

“We’ve set a goal to see out the full season and each week we get different bits of news that’s a bit scary at times. But as players all we can do is go on the advice we’re given from our staff, keep turning up every day that we can and play every fixture that’s put on for us.

“We want to put on a good product for the fans, because we know it means a big deal for the fans in times like this. That’s all we can do. It’s definitely strange, and scary at times, but there’s not much we can do.

“I certainly feel for the fans, I’d love for them to be at the matches. But in 50 years’ time when we look back we’re going to say we were part of a time that played professional sport in front of no fans, as crazy as that sounds. It can be a little bit flat at times at the start of a match but we’re finding a way to make things work. There’s nothing better than a packed Halliwell Jones on a Friday night, but it’s cool to be part of in a strange way.”

Austin, now in his second season with Wolves, also spoke about how he is happy with the decision to move to England from Australia to ply his trade and how he would recommend it to any of his fellow countrymen.

“I think it’s the best kept secret in rugby league to be honest,” he said.

“The sport in Australia has a lot more of a profile and I actually enjoy the slightly lower profile in this country. I get to spend a lot of time with my kids, I enjoy getting to be just another guy walking down the street.

“We’ve got a fan base we’d love to grow a bit more but we’ve got a very passionate fan base. We get really healthy numbers to our games and we’ve got a wonderful live product. I’m a big believer of Super League and the future of the sport in this country and that’s why as players we’re doing all we can to keep pushing the game forward.

“I was someone that when I made the decision to come over I had to fully jump into it otherwise you’re thousands of miles away from your family from home and things can get very dark and very miserable.

“It’s lived up to everything I thought it was. I’ve got a wonderful partner who was very open to coming over and continuing our lives here and I’m at a wonderful club in Warrington so it’s probably exceeded my expectations if anything.”