Some feel-good moments as rugby league returns in Australia

losing captain thanked winning team’s players for ir personal sacrifices leading into match. A charter flight pilot received a big round of applause when its plane beat incoming fog to touch down after midnight following ar game.

re were as many feel-good stories off field as re were on when National Rugby League restarted its season on weekend with empty stadiums and using only six venues in order to cut down on travel and better man coronavirus threats that had shut down league since March 23.

New Zealand Warriors’ 18-0 win over St. George Illawarra was Auckland-based team’s first of season after three rounds, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Due to international travel restrictions for international passengers into Australia,

y will likely be without ir families until October, when NRL season ends.

That fact wasn’t lost on Dragons, despite having lost three straight matches to start season.

After match, Warriors gared toger on field while St. George Illawarra captain Cameron McInnes addressed team to thank m for ir sacrifices to restart league.

Warriors coach Stephen Kearney said goodwill shown to club from or NRL teams has been humbling — typified by Sydney Roosters loaning Poasa Faamausili to club for four weeks — although Roosters had t won a game before weekend.

“I was pretty pleased for boys. I’m really proud of way y’ve gone about last couple of months,” Kearney said. “y’ve just got on with job and that’s what I was most pleased about.

“It means a great deal to t only group but to families back home. We’ve got a footy club that’s still operating, all our footy staff back home, administration and all of our fans.”

Canberra Raiders, meanwhile, beat Storm 22-6 at Melbourne n found mselves in a race to airport. ir flight back to Canberra was set to be diverted to Sydney, with a three-hour bus journey to follow as fog closed in on national capital.

That would have seen m arrive home around 5 a.m Sunday.

Canberra coach Ricky Stuart did his post-match media conference by telephone from team bus as Raiders rushed to Melbourne airport to try to have ir flight moved forward.

“It looks as though we might be fogged out in Canberra and have to go to Sydney and bus home,” Stuart was quoted as saying by Australian Associated Press. “Apparently we won’t kw until we are in air ... it will make for a tough week next week if we have to get on a three-hour bus trip after this flight.”

Raiders mand to avoid that scenario when ir flight landed in Canberra at 12:20 a.m., with a club spokesman saying pilot got a “massive cheer.”

In pre-coronavirus shutdown days, Raiders would have remained in Melbourne overnight at a city hotel and flew home in morning. But with restrictions in place, charter flights before and after matches — with teams arriving in some cases only four hours before a game — will become part of rm.

Any television audience figures wouldn't have matter much to Warriors back Gerard Beale, who said players had become close during nearly a month of quarantine toger and that motivation levels had translated into one of ir best performances in recent memory.

“It was quite an emotional week. We had a lot of videos from back home that were sent over. All our families,” he said. “Going into game, we were inspired by m and wanted to make everyone proud back home."

Among or third-round results, defending champion Roosters beat South Sydney 28-12, rth Queensland defeated Gold Coast 36-6 and Wests Tigers beat Cronulla 28-16.