'No chance in hell': NRL star's horror over controversial virus plans

Wed, 15 Apr 2020, 12:36 am·3-min read

Darius Boyd, pictured here with his daughter and wife in 2016 and 2017. — Darius Boyd with daughter Willow and wife Kayla. Image: Getty

Retiring Brisbane star Darius Boyd has smacked down suggestions Queensland players should relocate to NSW to finish the season, saying there's “no chance in hell” he would move away from his family.

The 32-year-old will retire at the end of the NRL season, but when that will be is yet to be determined.

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As the NRL ploughs through ideas to get the season up and running again on May 28, it has been proposed non-NSW teams will need to relocate to Sydney for the duration of the competition to bypass border restrictions between states.

However, Boyd, who has a young family in Brisbane, says he would rather end his career early than live away from home for months at a time.

“No chance in hell I could do four months away from my family and that's something I wouldn't be OK with,” Boyd told the Seven Network.

“The game of rugby league is very important to a lot of people (but) at the end of the day your mental health and wellbeing is a lot more important.”

Queensland teams facing uncertain times

The NRL is hell bent on restarting the competition in seven weeks' time and it’s hoped border restrictions will be relaxed before then as the infection rate of coronavirus continues to drop in Australia.

North Queensland coach Paul Green said he has not spoken at length with his playing group about potentially relocating to Sydney, and doesn't intend to until there are concrete plans in the works.

“I think there's still a lot of unknowns so we don't really want to speculate too much on it until we can get some concrete ways forward,” he told Fox League on Tuesday night.

“Safety is the number one concern so whatever the comp looks like and whatever we have to do, as long as it's safe and abides by the rules, we're committed to trying to get the games back on.”

Darius Boyd, pictured here with wife Kayla and children Willow and Romi in March. — Darius Boyd with wife Kayla and children Willow and Romi in March. (AAP Image/Darren England) NO ARCHIVING

Earlier on Tuesday, Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she would not be comfortable sending Queensland clubs Gold Coast, Brisbane and North Queensland to Sydney in order to avoid quarantine laws and ensure the NRL's resumption.

“I'm really concerned about my Queensland players going down to Sydney,” she said.

“All you need is one community transmission down in Sydney and the whole team could possibly have it.

“It would have to be very strict quarantine. I'd have to get health advice from my chief health officer.

“I don't want to put a spanner in the works here, but we're either going to listen to the health advice or we're not - I'm not making any apologies for that.”