Instead, he'll be sitting on the couch like the rest of us.

But as his beloved Raiders look for their third-straight win against the Storm, Furner will finally have some time to reflect on a rollercoaster 10 weeks.

The coronavirus-induced shutdown saw Furner's responsibilities go into overdrive, so much so only ARL Commission chairman Peter V'landys and Batman would have busier days and nights.

By day, he still had to run the Raiders, which included the heart-breaking task of standing down almost all of his staff.

Not to mention getting on top of all the federal government regulations around JobKeeper as the COVID-19 landscape changed almost hourly. A JobKeeper allowance Furner labelled a lifesaver.

By night, he put on his cape to become the masked avenger as part of Project Apollo, who had been tasked with getting the game back up and running as soon as possible.

It will be 10 weeks to the day between games for the Raiders and you only had to look at the smile on Canberra co-captain Josh Hodgson's face - even from the other side of a COVID-19-proof fence - to see what it meant to not only the players, but all the fans as well.

Furner said it had been a mighty effort. An effort that's seen a collective bargaining agreement agreed to, a TV deal done, club grants and salary caps. Something that could normally take up to two years to achieve.

And the NRL was back playing two weeks before their arch rivals at the AFL.

"It will be good. It was a big achievement because it was against the odds. It was certainly against some regular naysayers and it was an ambitious target," Furner said.

"It doesn't mean there won't be hiccups along the way, there could be, but we have certainly done everything we can to minimise the risks to the public, and the players and the staff."

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Furner's role in Project Apollo was as the conduit between the taskforce and the other 15 NRL chief executives.

It was his job to explain everything to the other club bosses and then bring back all their concerns and ideas to Apollo.

Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson had a similar role with the NRL coaches.

As the longest standing club boss in the NRL, Raiders coach Ricky Stuart felt Furner was the perfect man for the job.

And listed him as the reason the Raiders are one of the favourites for this year's premiership.

"I think Don's getting the respect he deserves," Stuart said.

"I was really happy to see the fact he was asked to be on the Apollo group and Don's the most experienced CEO in the competition and he's now starting to get the respect he deserves because I've had a number of CEOs in the game and the class and the ability Don has has been a big part of the backbone of why the club is so successful.

"He wouldn't want me saying that, he's very humble and prefers to sit in the background. But we've got good people running this club and Don's one of those guys that puts the club first and makes all the decisions and choices for the good of the club. And that's why we're so healthy at the moment."

Hodgson was over the moon. Pardon the pun. Admitting he had doubts about whether the NRL would return this year.

Especially given he was in touch with friends and family back home in England. The natural thought was Australia was heading in a similar direction due to the COVID-19 virus.

But Australia's been relatively fortunate so far and Hodgson couldn't wait for Saturday 7.35pm to come around.

"It's pretty good to be honest mate. It's nice to see everyone with a big smile on their face and happy about playing again," he said.

"Sometimes you can take things for granted when you're doing something you love for a job and sometimes it's easy to forget that when you're doing it day in and day out.

"You have a bit of a break that you weren't expecting I think everyone really appreciated how much they love what they're doing and are excited to be back."

But the return to the field is only the start. Just like the journey to decide the 2020 NRL premiers is only just beginning again. So to the road to recovery for the Raiders is as well.

Furner was hopeful if things return to a relative normal later in the year. Then so to the workers he's had to stand down will return.

First they need the crowds to come back. Maybe even come back to Canberra Stadium, instead of just in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

Then the yearly cycle of memberships and all those things that gave people jobs. Then they'll be able to fill the top floor of the Raiders' new centre of excellence in Braddon with the busy workers it was designed for.

It was something that helped drive Furner.

"It was hard personally," he said.

"We may never get all the staff back because we may not put on a game with a crowd this year.

"The game-day staff, events staff, staff there to sell and support the hospitality holders. There is a lot of staff around those game days, functions etc.

"We do a lot of kids activities, school activities, that have all shut down so those staff that normally run those community programs aren't here either.

"It's possible they won't come back until pre-season 2021, unless we start to do school visits, run coaching clinics and run events with crowds in them it's unlikely.

"Those staff will be eligible for JobKeeper hopefully up until very close to pre-season next year and then we can get them back and start planning a proper season with crowds."

But for now we'll have to content ourselves with watching the footy from the couch. Just like Furner is.

NRL ROUND THREE

Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Melbourne Storm at Melbourne, 7.35pm.

Raiders team: 1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 2. Bailey Simonsson, 3. Jarrod Croker, 4. Curtis Scott, 5. Nick Cotric, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. George Williams, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Josh Hodgson, 10. Dunamis Lui, 11. Joe Tapine, 12. Elliott Whitehead, 13. Corey Horsburgh. Interchange from: 14. Siliva Havili, 15. Emre Guler, 16. Sia Soliola, 17. Michael Oldfield, 18. Jordan Rapana, 19. Matt Frawley, 20. Kai O'Donnell, 21. Tom Starling.

Storm team: 1. Ryan Papenhuyzen, 2. Suliasi Vunivalu, 3. Justin Olam, 4. Marion Seve, 5. Josh Addo-Carr, 6. Cameron Munster, 7. Jahrome Hughes, 8. Jesse Bromwich, 9. Cameron Smith, 10. Nelson Asofa-Solomona, 11. Felise Kaufusi, 12. Kenneath Bromwich, 13. Dale Finucane. Interchange from: 14. Brandon Smith, 15. Tino Fa'asuamaleaui, 16. Christian Welch, 17. Max King, 18. Tom Eisenhuth, 19. Brenko Lee, 20. Ryley Jacks, 21. Darryn Schonig.