Maitland Pickers great and former NSW representative Brian Burke has called on NRL players to stop looking for sympathy or praise for agreeing to the move of clubs to a Queensland Covid-bubble.
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New biosecurity rules were implemented early this week which forced 12 clubs - including Newcastle, Canberra and all Sydney squads - to relocate to south-east Queensland for at least the next month.
Families will have to quarantine and self-isolate for the next 14 days before they join the players at one of the three hubs located on the Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast or Brisbane.
Burke said complaints by highly paid NRL players about being relocated to Queensland and being separated from their families were totally out of tune with average people's concerns.
"People are concerned about the spread of Covid. They are worried about their health, their jobs and their businesses," Burke said.
"They are in no mood for NRL players whinging about making some sacrifices to make a very lucrative living.
"The groundswell of opposition to Newcastle hosting State of Origin in rugby league heartland shows just how on the nose the NRL is at the moment."
Burke said Covid restriction breaches by St George players had further disenchanted fans.
"People are taking Covid seriously and do not want people putting them at risk," he said.
"They didn't want people potentially coming in from Sydney for the Origin, they don't want these players mucking up as if the restrictions we are asked to comply to don't apply to them."
Jeremy Latimore acknowledges living inside a COVID-bubble is not an ideal environment, but rugby league players do live a privileged life.
The Port Macquarie Sharks junior hung up the boots at the end of the 2019 National Rugby League season, ending an 11-year NRL career.
While Latimore empathised with players who will be without family support for the immediate future, he said everyone is affected by the pandemic at different levels.
"A mate of mine is a barber and he's had to shut down, but he's still got to pay his staff and rent because he can't cut anyone out of his home because that's a breach of the rules," Latimore said.
"It's not ideal for footballers to be playing the game they love under the (biosecure) conditions they do, but it is what it is. The television networks pay big money and expect the game to be played so if the players want to keep getting their wage, they've got to sacrifice a few things."
Cronulla Sharks halfback Shaun Johnson is one of many players who have to decide whether to uproot the family to Queensland - or be separated from wife Kayla and baby daughter Millah Malvina for an extended period.
Latimore appreciated the difficulty of such a decision.
"At that age they change so quickly and when I played you had away games where you wouldn't see the kids for three days and in that time it seemed like they grew up so much," he said.
"We are talking three to four weeks and if COVID doesn't get under control in Sydney, it could be all the way through to the end of the season.
"It's not ideal, but we're lucky with technology where you can still stay in touch and see your kids daily. Unfortunately it's the painful world we're living in at the moment."
