NRL to suspend 2020 season due to border closures

The NRL season has been suspended indefinitely effective immediately.

On an unprecedented day for the game, the NRL has scheduled a chief executives hook-up in the next hour that will decide that the competition has been postponed.

It follows another dramatic day where the closing of the Queensland borders ultimately put the NRL's hopes of playing on notice.

Cowboys star Jason Taumalolo arrives at Bankstown Airport for his side’s clash with the Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium. Picture: Jonathan Ng

The NRL also forced staff to take forced annual leave while clubs across the game had to make huge staffing cuts.

The Australian Rugby League Commission had a midday meeting Monday but it was after that news greeted them relating to the tough new border restrictions that hit like a sledgehammer.

It is understood these new restrictions will prove an impossible barrier for the NRL to now get over as Australia's shutdown of nonessential services becomes a reality.

The Daily Telegraph NRL podcast. Adam Mobbs, Dean Ritchie and Michael Carayannis discuss Brisbane's surprise emergence as a potential 2020 NRL grand final host, Latrell Mitchell's start to his Rabbitohs career and the coronavirus impact on rugby league.