There's big concern ahead of a big weekend of trans-Tasman sport in Queensland, with a COVID-cloud hanging over the sunshine state.
Six new COVID cases in the community have left officials - and the entire state - on a knife edge ahead of the final round of the Rugby Championship on Saturday, and Sunday's NRL Grand Final.
Venues on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane will be at reduced capacity, but the rugby league showpiece in particular is far from guaranteed.
Lockdown hasn't been ruled out, but the next 24 hours will be critical, depending on the potential spread of the virus.
The backup plan for the NRL Grand Final was Townsville, only for the North Queensland city to be home to one of the six new cases.
As a precaution, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has put in a range of restrictions on the entire population, one of them being a cap on the number of spectators for the NRL Grand Final - if it still goes ahead.
"It's going to be disappointing for people, but we have to take the health advice," Palaszczuk says.
"The health advice is to move to stage two. Stage two says 75 percent capacity. That's what it will be."
Aside from the NRL's plight, the Rugby Championship has also been hampered by eight members of the Argentina camp breaching COVID restrictions to attend a "health retreat" at Byron Bay.
The six players involved have been barred by SANZAAR from facing the Wallabies in this weekend's final round.
