Canberra Raiders prop Sia Soliola says NRL clubs will need four weeks to rebuild match fitness if the competition resumes this year.
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The newly formed innovation committee are set to reconvene on Thursday to discuss potential start dates and revised structure to the suspended competition.
The NRL is hopeful of resuming the competition as early as May 28 due to the reduction in the infection rate of COVID-19.
Players, like Soliola, have been training in isolation due to the government's restriction on gatherings of more than two people.
The Raiders prop says players will need about a month to regain match fitness due to the lack of contact sessions, before the competitions resumes in whatever capacity.
"Everything is all about fitness now, just given the fact we've already had a pre-season and done the majority of our work," Soliola said.
"Skills wouldn't be lost as much as the fitness element. Four weeks I think is a relatively fair amount of time to get the bulk of work in.
"In terms of cycles, we could get in one or two cycles leading up to the remaining time of the year. A month is a fairly good time to get some preparation in."
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The innovation committee, headed by Wayne Pearce, will investigate "all options" around restarting the competition before a submission is made to the ARLC in late April.
One of those scenarios involves teams being locked down in isolated "bubbles" across NSW and Queensland, potentially in a two conference format.
Given players would have had at least two months without playing an NRL match, former Raiders captain Alan Tongue says the league need to provide clubs with ample preparation time for when the competition resumes.
Teams usually have eight to 12 weeks of pre-season before round one begins, to both prepare players tactically and physically.
"We can't give them that, so there will be a time period when clubs say they need a certain amount of time to get their players into the gym and contact ready," Tongue said.
"We need to make sure we get the best out of them for whatever period and consider injury prevention.
"Yes, the players are training on their own but they're not tackling each other, or sprinting, or doing the stop and start.
"Athletes are going to need time to make sure their bodies are going to cope with the demand we're going to place on them for the next 10 to 14 weeks, or whatever there is left to play.
"We could get a season that's only ten games but the injuries are galore.
"If we talk about the style of footy or the combination, they will come. If teams drop a fair few balls in the first games, well so be it.