Devastated Warriors delay NRL homecoming

Warriors CEO Cameron George has urged the New Zealand government to create travel "corridors" for sporting teams after isolation requirements forced the club to delay its long-awaited NRL homecoming.

George announced on Friday the Warriors had no option but to move their round-15 match against premiers Penrith which was scheduled for Auckland's Mt Smart Stadium on June 18.

He said a seven-day isolation period on arrival in New Zealand is unmanageable for rival NRL teams.

"We've been away (almost) three years: enough's enough," George said.

"We need to bring rugby league back, we need to bring the Warriors back, we need to bring our fans back.

"We need to reopen New Zealand and excite the next generation, otherwise we're going to lose people to the sport. We play a major part in that.

"We're really devastated we can't be back there in June, we have to wait longer now and it's still a guess whether we can get there or not."

The Warriors haven't played on home soil for 1023 days having selflessly spent the past two seasons in Australia because of the COVID-19 situation.

While the club is desperate to go ahead with four other games scheduled in New Zealand from July onwards, George said it won't be feasible unless their opponents can skip isolation altogether considering the impact to their training regimes.

He called on the government to create travel corridors so sporting teams and necessary businesses can come and go more freely.

"All we can do is work with the facts and the fact is it's impossible to expect NRL teams to isolate for seven days after arriving in New Zealand," George said.

"Penrith, for example, plays the previous Sunday so it can't even do the seven days before our game.

"With the time frames involved we