Canberra Raiders players set to pick up tools during NRL shutdown

Post by **greeneyed** » March 31, 2020, 8:30 am

Canberra Raiders players set to pick up tools during NRL shutdown

Canberra Raiders players are preparing to trade football boots for work boots during the coronavirus shutdown, with English stars John Bateman and Elliott Whitehead set to arrive at a jobsite on Tuesday morning. Jack Murchie has also picked up the tools.

"Pack lunch ready for my first day on the tools tomorrow," Bateman said on Instagram on Monday night.

Read more: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/ ... /?cs=14280

kona_dream · Post by **kona_dream** » March 31, 2020, 9:08 am

Lots of cars salesmen about to start work in Bondi one thinks.

papabear · Post by **papabear** » March 31, 2020, 9:52 am

i take it canberra hasnt shut down?

Post by **Matt** » March 31, 2020, 1:23 pm

papabear wrote: ↑March 31, 2020, 9:52 am i take it canberra hasnt shut down?

Only as shut as the government has made it.
Schools are 'pupil free', so 'soft' closed.
No one in parks.
Restaurants are takeaway only.
If you can work from home, you are. Hard for builders to do that, so they are masked and gloved and social distanced across a site.

-TW- · Post by **-TW-** » March 31, 2020, 3:12 pm

Matt wrote:
papabear wrote: ↑March 31, 2020, 9:52 am i take it canberra hasnt shut down?
Only as shut as the government has made it.
Schools are 'pupil free', so 'soft' closed.
No one in parks.
Restaurants are takeaway only.
If you can work from home, you are. Hard for builders to do that, so they are masked and gloved and social distanced across a site.

a lot of "non essential" shops (clothes, jewellers,etc) have moved online and closed their shops

It's basically big brand stores, supermarkets and pharmacies left in Westfield

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bonehead · Post by **bonehead** » March 31, 2020, 4:15 pm

not sure I'm in favour of our players mixing with the great unwashed when the best case scenario is back playing in July.

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Post by **greeneyed** » March 31, 2020, 6:23 pm

Canberra Raiders star John Bateman bends his back to help a mate out

Bateman picked up the tools on Tuesday as several Raiders have gone to work in the coronavirus-induced NRL shutdown.

"Not officially on the tools, but I've come to do a little bit of work today for one of my mates, just helping him out," Bateman said. "He's just stripping some roofs and he's throwing some rubbish down. I just clean up. It's not much. I can't do much. I've got my shoulder injury.

Read more: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/ ... /?cs=14239

Seiffert82 · Post by **Seiffert82** » March 31, 2020, 9:41 pm

bonehead wrote: ↑March 31, 2020, 4:15 pm not sure I'm in favour of our players mixing with the great unwashed when the best case scenario is back playing in July.

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Entirely my point when this thing was blowing up. Either they continued to play in the NRL under strict supervision and the best available medical advice, or they are let loose among the general public with a huge pay cut.

Apparently the comp was shut for player welfare and this is the outcome we get...unreal. I still think the squads of all teams could have been isolated somewhere secure and the game could have continued even more safely than what is happening in these sorts of situations.

Not many would agree with me, but from a public health perspective continuing the NRL would have negligible impact on the spread of the virus in comparison to the vague workplace exclusion direction for 150,000 public servants across the country.

BJ · Post by BJ » April 1, 2020, 7:35 am

Yep Seffiert82 I’m with you. I also wrote about my concern for players moving from a regulated approach to the Virus to a non regulated.

edwahu · Post by **edwahu** » April 1, 2020, 7:43 am

I was under the impression the players were under strict instructions from the NRL to isolate. End of the day they need to earn a living though.

Seiffert82 · Post by **Seiffert82** » April 1, 2020, 9:38 am

edwahu wrote: ↑April 1, 2020, 7:43 am I was under the impression the players were under strict instructions from the NRL to isolate. End of the day they need to earn a living though.

Yep, tell an athlete on $500k they are getting an 80% paycut and then tell them to stay inside for 6 months for their own welfare. What could possibly go wrong.

Anyway, unprecedented times. Always easy to criticise in hindsight. I just think there are alternatives that can still be considered, especially once testing becomes more sophisticated.

Seiffert82 · Post by **Seiffert82** » April 1, 2020, 9:42 am

BJ wrote: ↑April 1, 2020, 7:35 am Yep Seffiert82 I’m with you. I also wrote about my concern for players moving from a regulated approach to the Virus to a non regulated.

Yep, you've got to trust the medical advice, but when things settle a bit you'd like to think that advice would be revised for every industry.

The approach needs to be sensible and pragmatic, otherwise in 2 months time people will absolutely lose their **** and all hell could break loose.

Seiffert82 · Post by **Seiffert82** » April 1, 2020, 11:18 pm

Interesting interview with V'landys on Fox League Live. The decision to postpone the comp was clearly made on the back of some pretty dire predictions of what might have happened with this virus in Australia. The progression of the virus is clearly nowhere near those predictions.

Anyway, the real question now is what is the trigger to re-commence the game. I suspect there is a good chance we'll never see a viable cure to this virus, much like it's cousin, the common cold. It needs to be managed and controlled one way or another and life will eventually have to go on.

Pete Cash · Post by **Pete Cash** » April 2, 2020, 4:29 am

We do make coronavirus vaccines for animals though. Livestock get vaccines for things like that because they are kept in horrendous conditions and viruses can run through them.

There is no real economic value in spending the stupid amount of money it requires to make a vaccine on a virus that causes maybe 25% of colds. Humans just wont take the required number of vaccines for something as mild as a cold. The flu is pretty mild most of the time (more mild than people think anyway with a majority of cases presenting mild to no symptoms) but can kick a persons **** every so often and its hard enough to get people to take a flu vaccine.

SARS and MERS research runs out of funds as soon as the virus gets under control. There is a huge economic cost here.

Seiffert82 · Post by **Seiffert82** » April 2, 2020, 6:01 am

I don't dispute any of that. Maybe a reason we don't have a vaccine for a cold is that big pharmaceutical companies make billions of dollars a year selling pills, potions and lollies to help people deal with the symptoms.

Even if they do develop a vaccine, there are always a percentage of **** around the world who will refuse to take it, and millions who won't have access to it. I don't think this is necessarily going away, but a vaccine would obviously be a wonderful treatment.