The Melbourne Storm will host the Newcastle Knights as part of a Super Saturday double header on the Gold Coast, after relocating to Brisbane following an announcement of a lock-down in Melbourne.
The North Queensland Cowboys will now host a Saturday afternoon game ahead of the V8 Supercars' WD-40 Townsville SuperSprint race which will now begin at the conclusion of the game.
Saturday's revised schedule will now be:
3pm: North Queensland Cowboys v Sydney Roosters at Queensland Country Bank Stadium.
5.30pm: Canberra Raiders v Cronulla Sutherland Sharks at Cbus Super Stadium.
7.35pm: Melbourne Storm v Newcastle Knights at Cbus Super Stadium
National Rugby League Chief Executive Andrew Abdo said the revised schedule would be a win for Southeast Queensland league fans and North Queensland sporting fans.
"The Gold Coast now hosts a double header on Saturday which gives fans the opportunity to see twice the action and that's a good outcome for the game,'' he said.
"The Cowboys will now play at 3pm and I want to thank the V8 Supercars who are moving their race in Townsville back to ensure no overlap between the two events. This collaboration is a win for all sports fans.
"I want to thank all clubs for working together to achieve a schedule in the best interests of the competition, in particular the North Queensland Cowboys who agreed to re-schedule a genuine home game on very short notice."
Mr Abdo said Storm players and their families would arrive in Brisbane tonight. Given Melbourne is not currently a Hot Spot the team will be based at a separate hotel to the Brisbane hub, but will remain under Level 4 restrictions.
"It's clear the risk to the competition is too great to keep the Storm in Melbourne, so we have made the decision to relocate the club to Brisbane,'' he said.
"The Storm have made significant sacrifices over the last two years, I want to thank the players and staff for everything they are doing to keep our competition going."
