THIS certainly did not seem likely a couple of months ago.

As Covid cases decreased all over the country and restrictions slowly eased, Super League proceeded unhindered through the early rounds.

Indeed, the decision to decide final league placings on win percentage as opposed to points gained seemed a little unnecessary.

How times change…

Warrington Wolves’ trip to Leigh Centurions became the 13th match to fall victim to Covid in the space of the past month or so – a number that will surely keep growing in the immediate short term.

It has now got to the point that it is a hope rather than an expectation that a full round of fixtures will be played on any given week. Whatever way you look at it, that is not a good place for an already struggling competition to be in.

Very much like last year, the focus now seems to be on getting to the end of the season by any means necessary – but how can that be achieved?

How can we stop squads being wiped out and fixtures going the same way, denying clubs vital revenue after a year of empty stadia?

It is certainly difficult as cases rise nationally, and you would probably have to go to both extreme ends of the scale to find a solution.

When their competition returned last year, the NRL required its teams to go into bio-secure “bubbles” – effectively putting them into lockdown.

No trips out with family, no visits to cafes or bars, simply leave home to exercise, train and play.

It is a lot to ask of players, especially in a climate where all legal limits on social contact in England have now been eased and in theory, people are free to go about their lives in a normal, pre-Covid way.

With that in mind, could it be time to go completely in the other direction?

Could the solution be to roll back the current testing regime and trust players and staff to exercise their own personal judgement when it comes to the risks around Covid?

After all, the general population are being told to do just that…

There are no easy answers but at the moment, the competition is in disarray.