NRL grand finalists would still have to quarantine on arrival in New Zealand, should Auckland get the all-clear to host rugby league's showpiece event, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says.
On Sunday, Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V'landys said that Auckland and New Zealand were being looked at as a potential destination.
Australia is currently battling an outbreak of COVID-19, with much of the country in lockdown.
Should the outbreak continue, then the 2021 grand final - to be held on October 3 - could be shifted outside of Australia to allow for spectators, or played in front of an empty stadium in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.
Appearing on the AM Show on Monday, Prime Minister Ardern was quizzed about the possibility of staging the grand final in New Zealand.
But even after an exemption was granted for the Wallabies, who were permitted to travel to New Zealand before the closure of the trans-Tasman bubble, the Prime Minister made it clear that no such exemption would be allowed for the NRL.
"All that the Wallabies had was the ability to travel like a New Zealander," Ardern says.
"You remember we had that one week window where you could come in? They came in, in that one week window.
"That's now over. The NRL teams would have to go into quarantine - just like every other New Zealander from Australia.
"That was earlier on in our closure, so [there was] less risk at that time. We treated them the same as New Zealanders.
"Fairness really matters to New Zealanders, the Wallabies just got treated like a Kiwi...There's a number of hurdles, but the biggest I'd say is the quarantine hurdle."
A second major logistical hurdle would be the broadcast time and the challenges that would present for New Zealand organisers.
In the past, New Zealand has been denied the opportunity of hosting major rugby league matches - such as the Rugby League World Cup final and State of Origin - due to kick-off times needing to be ideal for the Australian market.
A 7:30pm kick-off for an Australian audience would need to be staged at 9:30pm NZ time, finishing towards midnight, and leading to a headache around public transport and noise levels for Eden Park residents.
"The other factor to keep in mind with the NRL, is that I imagine to keep it interesting for the Australian broadcasters, they'd be playing quite late at night," the Prime Minister adds.
"I'm sure the Eden Park locals would probably have something to say."
All up, while open to the idea, Prime Minister Arden says that the reality of staging the NRL grand final will be a "hard ask" - despite the benefits of New Zealand hosting such a marquee event.
"We've got so much congestion, we need to bring Kiwis home. It is a hard ask at the moment.
"These are just the factors I'd put on the table, but it is a hard ask.
"If the NRL put a suggestion to us, I'm sure that we would give it due consideration. But those are all the factors that we would weigh up, and it would be a hard ask."
