A plan being hatched inside the walls of rugby league headquarters could see Mudgee host games in a modified NRL competition.

Rugby Australia is prepared to hold crisis talks with a group of disgruntled retired Wallabies captains, who have penned a letter to the governing body claiming the game has "lost its way", while demanding a change in leadership.

It's usually a glamorous event in front of a packed arena, but this year's NFL draft will be broadcast from nearly 200 locations to sports-starved fans.

NRL clubs will be able to resume training from May 4 as the competition charges towards its planned restart three weeks later.

Raelene Castle's position as Rugby Australia chief executive is not under review in the wake of the no-confidence letter issued by a group of former Wallabies captains, but the governing body can't guarantee it won't hold discussions down the track.

Queensland health authorities will consider giving the state's NRL teams the nod to bypass coronavirus restrictions and resume training as the code prepares to restart the season on May 28.

Don't let all this extra time at home get in the way of your long-cherished athletic goals. Here's how you can emerge from social distancing the proud champion of a sport you've just invented.

Assistant coaches are among those doing it tough in Australia's football codes during the coronavirus shutdown, as they learn to adapt to a challenging environment, writes Richard Hinds.

While the latest coronavirus update from the Prime Minister and Chief Medical Officer looked promising for ways we can start to shift back to normal life, they say it's still too early to start lifting baseline restrictions.

NRL television broadcasters Channel Nine and Foxtel agree to recognise May 28 as the competition recommencement date following extensive meetings, according to chairman Peter V'landys.

With their jobs under significant threat and online wagering taking hold, the coronavirus crisis is causing traditional rails bookmakers to re-imagine their future.

A smiling, happy Brydi Saul is on a mission to get to the Paralympics. But rewind three years, and it was a very different story.

Imagine an Australia where every sporting club in the country had players with autism and intellectual disability playing on teams, serving on committees, and helping run events.

The men's world number three has earned more than $37 million during his career, but he says he is not willing to contribute money to a planned relief program to help tennis professionals doing it tough during the coronavirus shutdown.

The French Grand Prix cancelled its race scheduled for June 28 rather than postponing it, making July 5 the targeted start date at the Austrian GP in Spielberg.

Flattering comparisons with other leading sports officials have also helped elevate the ARL chairman's current status as the can-do man of Australian sport, but as Richard Hinds asks, is he about to make a huge mistake?

The Bundesliga could be the first top-flight football competition in the world to return from an enforced break due to coronavirus, and may become a test case for how other leagues approach a return to normality.

St Kilda's new cult hero Caitlin Greiser is one of 11 first-time selections in the 2020 AFLW All-Australian team after topping the league's goal-kicking chart.

Madison Prespakis of Carlton is named the winner of the 2020 AFL Women's Best and Fairest award, and Isabell Huntington takes out the rising star award.

Federal Minister Richard Colbeck says he hopes sport halted by the coronavirus pandemic can get started again, but warns NRL players' misbehaviour threatens a return of play.

He has claimed almost every individual honour there is in the AFL, but the highest goal continues to drive the Geelong star even during this uncertain 2020 season — a maiden premiership victory.

Former Cabinet minister Bridget McKenzie defends her actions in the sports grants scandal, saying it was her "responsibility" to exercise discretion and allocate grants to projects that had not been merit-listed.

As tennis stars disagree over a proposed fighting fund for players during the coronavirus shutdown, it remains clear most lower-ranked professionals struggle to make ends meet plying their trade.

The resumption of the NRL season on May 28 remains in doubt, with the players seeking answers over pay and other conditions only days out from their planned return to training.

The cries of football fans demanding players return to the field under any circumstances have become shrill as the craving for lockdown distraction turns from stoical whimsy to rank desperation, writes Richard Hinds.

With uncertainty surrounding the men's T20 World Cup and Indian tour, former players have expressed interest in revisiting one of cricket's most famous experiments — Australia v Australia A.

Queensland is the first state to sign off on the planned May 28 return of the NRL and the Prime Minister hopes Border Force will allow the NZ Warriors into Australia shortly.

Each state and territory is relaxing their coronavirus restrictions differently — and some Australians will be able to do plenty more this weekend than others. Here's what's on the cards.

The New Zealand Warriors will take part in the NRL season, after receiving permission to travel to Australia.

The NRL has declared its intention to come back in four weeks, but the Government wants you to beat them onto the park, court, even bowling green.

AFL chief Gillon McLachlan is cautiously optimistic following yesterday's National Cabinet meeting — and he leaves open the possibility that the league's hubs model might not be needed to get through the season.

Sporting organisations can afford to join the national redress scheme for institutional child sexual abuse but have chosen not to, according to government documents obtained by the ABC.

Former footballer, AFP assistant commissioner and ASADA boss David Sharpe says his first challenge at the newly former Sport Integrity Australia will be to tackle organised crime.

Despite more relaxed coronavirus restrictions in South Australia and Western Australia, the AFL says it does not want clubs from those states training in bigger groups until Victorian teams are allowed to do so.

Melbourne Storm players prepare to hit the road for Albury, where training will recommence on Wednesday at their new temporary base.

With many families getting priced out of junior football, one club in Perth is waiving fees, and it could signal a new direction for grassroots sport in Australia, writes Samantha Lewis.

Junior participation numbers in sport may face long-term effects caused by the coronavirus shutdown, meaning it's crucial community clubs act now so the battle isn't lost, writes Richard Hinds.

South Sydney and the NRL breathe a sigh of relief as three Rabbitohs players — including Latrell Mitchell, fresh from being fined for breaching social distancing on a camping trip — return negative results to coronavirus tests.

Chinese swimmer Sun Yang has reportedly appealed against his eight-year suspension for doping — it is the three-time Olympic champion's last hope to remain eligible for a fourth Games in Tokyo.

The NRL ticks another box ahead of its planned restart later this month, as the players officially sign off on a new pay agreement ahead of a return to training this week.

Americans should have been marking a milestone at the weekend — both in sport and the civil rights movement. Instead, a grieving nation has been forced to go without.

The livewire forward feels guilty about how AFL great Adam Goodes was driven out of the game, which is why he wants young Indigenous Australian players to call out racism.

Albury City Council's decision to block the NRL's Melbourne Storm from using public facilities for training divides both the council and the community.

Residents in the Adelaide Hills will cover the cost of an "unfortunate" planning error involving state soccer authorities which has led to construction of smaller pitches than intended in original plans.

Rugby's embattled governing body makes a key short-term appointment, as it continues to search for a full-time replacement for Raelene Castle, who stepped down as chief executive last month.

With the recent flurry of changes in Rugby Australia leadership, confusion increases for those involved with a game already in crisis as concerns continue that an expected loan won't be large enough to help.

The restart of the NRL could be jeopardised as Raiders forwards Sia Soliola, Joe Tapine and Josh Papalli join Titans forward Bryce Cartwright in refusing to sign an unedited version of the vaccination waiver.

The NRL announces players who choose not to have the flu vaccination on religious, medical or conscientious grounds will be allowed to train and play, but they must sign a revised waiver.

The Adelaide Crows and the AFL investigate a possible breach of the code's training protocols by a group of players at a Barossa Valley resort being used as a quarantine hub.

A successful season relaunch on May 28 has the potential to give the NRL a desperately needed leg-up on the fierce battlegrounds of Australia's football codes, where it is often overshadowed by the AFL, writes Richard Hinds.