BY ADAM JOE

The 2020 NRL season will go on into round this weekend in front of empty stadiums as the coronavirus pandemic continues to unfold.

Most other sports around the globe have been suspended but the NRL will roll on with the New Zealand Warriors forced to stay in Australia with their home game against Canberra switched to the Gold Coast.

But where has the money gone?

The NRL has gone public and embarrassingly admitted they don’t have the cash to cancel their season.

$50 million was meant to be banked years ago for situations like this.

Phil Gould asked about it on Sunday.

But Gould was one of those back then, in his role at the Penrith Panthers, that wanted that exact money funneled back to the clubs – the same ones who have seemingly eroded the NRL bank account since.

“You look at where we were this time last week and how things have escalated since then, I’ve got no doubt that by the weekend the reality will set in that we’ve got to close the competition down,” Gould said on Today on Monday morning.

“I don’t think there’s any alternative to that.

“It’s the right thing to do. We’re a part of society, there are rules for everyone now and we’ve got to play our part in that.

“It will also open up to thoughts of why our game is so vulnerable financially right at the moment given our history over the last 10 years and the sort of money the game’s been bringing in.

“It’s going to have them look at the whole financial modelling and philosophy of our code.

“We’ve got to learn from what we’ve done in the past and ask ourselves why we are so vulnerable as a code right at the moment because we have to close down for a season. It shouldn’t be that way.”