It will be hard without crowds admits Wakefield Trinity’s Ryan Hampshire

The sport has been shutdown since mid-March but could return without crowds by the middle of August and finish as late as January.

The NRL made its return to TV screens this week, with the Australian league restarting behind closed doors.

Super League hopes that crowds will be allowed back into stadia by October, meaning an August restart would limit the number of matches played without supporters.

Top-level football in England is expected to return on June 17 which could provide an acid test for other top-flight sports seeking to resume.

“It is going to be hard, playing in front of no-one,” said the utility back.

“It will be hard to get up for but they can’t leave the game on pause for too long.

“So, I think it will have to be behind closed doors.

“Safety is number one for everyone and it needs to come first for everyone.

“This virus is affecting everyone differently so we can’t just think it is not going to affect us because we are young.”

Hampshire insists Trinity need to develop more consistency if they are to be challenging for the top honours.

Wakefield were locked in a relegation battle last season, despite sitting as high as third during May.

Hampshire added: “We have just got to improve massively. Last year there were so many games that were lost at the back end of the year, I don’t know how we let ourselves get to that point.

“We have just got to improve and then imagine something like the Challenge Cup coming back to Wakefield, it would be a once in a lifetime thing.”

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