Souths strive for normality in abnormal times

The Rabbitohs say they are doing their best to ensure it is business as usual as they prepare for the round two clash against Brisbane, despite things being anything but.

After finishing a field session with the regular crowd of die-hard fans shut out of Redfern Oval, three players took turns donning a headset in front of a camera so journalists could dial in remotely to ask questions in a conference-call format.

Come Friday the playing group will get on a private charter flight to fly to Brisbane and play the Broncos in an empty Suncorp Stadium before returning that night on another charter flight.

"It will probably be good because we'll wake up in our own beds, do our own routine, not much change in our preparation," Tom Burgess said.

"Instead of jumping on a bus we can jump on a plane, we'll go with whatever we have to do so we'll just make it work.

"We had a chat this morning about how we can be good with our hygiene, they've cleaned through the whole facility here at Redfern, we're taking every step we can to be diligent with this virus. We have to carry on as normal. We finished a session then, two hours on field. We're about to roll into weights."

Burgess, Cody Walker and James Roberts all said the playing group had unanimously agreed they wanted to keep playing as long as they could, despite some players from other clubs suggesting the competition should follow other major leagues around the world and suspend play.

"We want to continue playing for our fans and our members," Walker said.

"It's such an important part of Australian life, rugby league, so if we can we'd like to keep playing.

"Everyone was on same page, we had a meeting this morning, the doc made sure we were across all the new protocols that we're going under."

Of a possible player pay cut to be negotiated between the NRL and RLPA if finances get dire, Walker said it hopefully won't come to that.

"The NRL are doing a great job in bringing out protocols and some great things going forward," he said.

"We're taking extra measures with our hygiene, my kids' school is doing a great job doing their part with extra hygiene.

"We're making sure we're doing it at training, there was a big clean of the operations here at training, we stopped people coming to the club to watch training, we closed it all off and we're trying to stay together as one. It's great we're sticking together as one and going to keep playing."