By Casey O'Connor
Round 15 of the TRL competition received a knockout blow thanks to the QRL reaction to the urgent COVID lockdown last weekend.
The Lockyer Valley was one of the regions slapped with stay-at-home orders thereby grounding the Gatton Hawks.
The Dalby Diehards were to have hosted Gatton in what should have been an important round 15 clash.
Following a directive from the QRL, all TRL games in round 15 were cancelled.
At this point the TRL has indicated that as a result of the lockdown all round 15 games have been declared null and void and will not be rescheduled. Importantly there will be no alteration to the leader board.
This action which in light of the snap lockdown looked unavoidable has many up in arms as wins in the final few games of the fixture season are imperative for those teams pushing to get themselves into final’s contention.
With the lockdown now extended until at least Sunday, 9 August the QRL has announced that all State competitions for this weekend have been cancelled.
These games are expected to be rescheduled.
There has been no advice from the TRL as to the fate of the TRL round 16 fixtures games.
It is understood that the TRL are holding a Directors meeting on Tuesday night.
That is expected to be followed by a meeting with all club delegates on Thursday where the fate of the remaining fixtures will be discussed.
As this edition of Spin goes to print no firm decisions have been made however TRL representatives are adamant that, if necessary, they will make the tough decisions as they have a responsibility to the community.
It is difficult however to see this round of games going ahead given the large number of players who travel from the locked down LGA’s to play in the TRL.
While there are some teams who will be frustrated at these disruptions there will be plenty of players carrying niggling injuries who might be relishing the break.
2021 TRL Ladder after round 14
Goondiwindi 23
Highfields 22
Wattles 20
Warwick 20
Valleys 18
Gatton 15
Dalby 14
Brothers 12
Pittsworth10 5
Newtown 6
Southern Suburbs 6
Oakey 2
