
On Saturday night, more than five and a half million Sydneysiders were in lockdown.
For some, it's our second lockdown. For those on the northern beaches, who sacrificed Easter and then Christmas, it's their third.
Children on school holidays have gone without a trip up the coast, a visit to see their grandparents, or a tennis camp they'd been looking forward to. Entire workplaces have, yet again, shuffled home, working long days from inside the same four walls. Dinners and events and birthdays have been cancelled, with state borders slammed shut.
Well. Sort of.
As always, there are a few exceptions.
For greater Sydney-based NRL players, their 'workplace' has remained open.
They're able to train at their club. They're afforded the privilege of running out onto the field, and playing a full contact game against players from Melbourne, Queensland and New Zealand.
But with that privilege comes some necessary restrictions.
Like everyone else living in the greater Sydney area, they're not permitted to have visitors inside their home.
They're also banned from leaving home unless training, playing or completing an essential household task.
They're the conditions upon which first grade players still get to compete and earn, in the case of, say, Jack de Belin, an estimated $700,000 a year.
Stay home. That's it. That's the rule.
And yet, one week into Sydney's lockdown, police in Shellharbour received a phone call.
Not only was Dragons prop Paul Vaughan hosting a party at his home, he and his mates were brazen enough to make enough noise that a neighbour complained.
At first, when police arrived at the property at 9:45pm, they thought there were six or so people in attendance.
But, as it turned out, half a dozen more were hiding.
One guest, NRL player Corey Norman, is said to have fled the scene, leaving his car parked out the front which just so happened to be fitted with personalised number plates.
Others crammed themselves into wardrobes and cupboards in a desperate attempt to hide from police.
One, it would later turn out, was much better at hiding than the others.
Police issued multiple St George Illawarra players $1000 fines and asked that they move on. Two partners of players, including Vaughan's partner, were also fined.
And then came Monday.
Despite their best attempts at a coverup, it was found that 30-year-old Jack de Belin was in attendance.
When police arrived, he'd hidden under a bed.
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