Luke Gale column - How Brad Dwyer made Leeds Rhinos teammates stand up and cheer

We had a team meeting at the start of the week to talk about the coronavirus and Brad took it by storm. He stood up and gave a rousing speech, Boris Johnson-esque, about how we can help people during the crisis. He basically said ‘look lads, we have got to care for the elderly and vulnerable. We can fight this virus, but it’s them we have to be concerned about’. It was fantastic and all the lads cheered him at the end. James Donaldson made a picture afterwards of Brad Dwyer’s face on Boris Johnson’s body, so we all saw the funny side, but it was a great speech and he was absolutely right. What’s happening now isn’t just affecting rugby league, we all have to look at the bigger picture. At the moment it feels like the country and the world’s in a state of shock because no one knows what’s going on. It is scary. We were in on Monday, we had a bit of a briefing from the doctor and then we trained and I thought the session was great. But then the sport was closed down for a couple of weeks and after that we were all told to stay away until at least next week. We can go into the gym at Kirkstall then if we want, but there is a real air of uncertainty. I know that’s not just among rugby league players, but for everybody. It worries me because we all know rugby league isn’t a cash-rich game. Clubs rely on the fans to bring in revenue, so it is quite scary from that point of view. If there’s no fans coming through the gates, there’s no revenue. Hopefully as players we will be okay, but lots of people depend on clubs like Leeds and they will be concerned about the future. We really wanted to play at Catalans last week, but the club made the right decision not to travel. We were supposed to fly via Barcelona and over the weekend planes were being turned back, so if we had gone we might not have got home and I’d be writing this column from Spain now! The club made a call and it was the right one. Everyone’s in the same boat now the RFL have called all games off. They are following on-going advice from the government, but that changes every day. You wake up and look at the news and something fresh has happened; like the schools being closed down. It is worrying and not knowing what’ll happen next is the hard part. Rugby league players are told what time to get out of bed, what they’ve got to do at 10 o’clock, where they have to be at 12, so the uncertainty is very difficult to adjust to, but we are a lot better off than most people. It is especially difficult for anyone who doesn’t have a regular income or who’s elderly or disabled. Hopefully the good side of everyone will come to the fore and we can all pull together and help the people who need support. There’s people dying and that puts having no rugby into perspective. We’ve all got family, a lot of the lads have young kids or elderly relatives and we are just as worried about them as everyone is. It might be later rather than sooner, but rugby league is going to resume at some stage so we’ve got to look after ourselves and make sure we stay fit and as ready to play as we can. It’s not easy when you are stuck at home, we aren’t in quarantine and we’ll all keep ticking over, fitness-wise. I live close to Rothwell Park so I am setting a few cones up and doing a bit of running in the open space and fresh air, well away from anyone else. Unfortunately, public gyms are a no-go, but it’ll be good being able to use Kirkstall next week. And there’s always golf! Oulton Hall golf course is within walking distance for me, so if it’s open I might take my clubs and wander over there. Stay safe everyone.