Warriors players Eliesa Katoa and Selestino Ravutaumada remain stranded in Australia.
They have been refused permission to travel back to New Zealand because they are not New Zealand citizens.
Both have lived in New Zealand on work visas and Ravutaumada played for the Junior Kiwis rugby league team.
Neither will not be allowed back under the revised Covid-19 rules when the rest of the Warriors come home.
NRL head of government relations Jaymes Boland-Rudder has been negotiating with Prime Minister Jacinda Adern’s office for several weeks to get the bans lifted.
NRL officials were able to get exemptions in May for Warriors players, and later some family members, to travel to Australia for the 2020 competition.
Ravutaumada is Fijian, but cannot go to Fiji because he will not be able to receive the necessary treatment for a shoulder operation.
The club will decide to re-sign him depending on how he recovers from surgery.
Warriors CEO Cameron George has already assured the pair they would be put up at his family home if they were not allowed to return to New Zealand.
George said the two players had the appropriate visas to be in New Zealand and could demonstrate they were residents because they had been to school and lived there.
“What are we going to do? Drop them off and leave them on the shores of Australia?
“I call on the New Zealand government to review and reconsider this.”
The main points
- Warriors players Eliesa Katoa and Selestino Ravutaumada remain stranded in Australia.
- They have been refused permission to travel back to New Zealand because they are not New Zealand citizens.
