Coronavirus shutdown is also affecting next season’s planning says Hull KR’s Danny McGuire

However, as Hull KR’s Danny McGuire attests, that is almost impossible, too. Around this time of year, clubs are often well down the line in their plans for the following season’s captures. If not, they are certainly signing off on some contract extensions on current players they may want to keep on. Nevertheless, with so much uncertainty surrounding the financial state of not just rugby league but all walks of life under the spectre of the coronavirus, it is impossible to plan. McGuire, who took up Rovers’ new position of head of recruitment after completing his trophy-laden career at the Robins last season, told The Yorkshire Post: “Certainly everything is on hold at the moment. “Until we know the next path we’ll be taking and how long this enforced break is going to be, I think everything has been put on the backburner. “Before then, I’d been in contact with quite a few people and putting things in place for next year. We’ve some good things to happen in the next few weeks, too, regarding some of our younger players. “There’s a lot of good things happening but obviously it’s all put on hold now until we know where we are at.” The former Leeds Rhinos and Great Britain half-back, 37, added: “And it all pales into insignificance with what’s going on. “Everybody just wants to ensure that family, friends and everybody is safe. “I know business-wise, rugby-wise and sports-wise, everybody is frustrated as there’s not much going on. “But we want everyone to be safe and all the measures that are put in place are to make sure that when it does settle down we’re in a position to get going and crack on again.” After last week’s shutdown, it could be months before rugby league starts up again and no one knows just how the fixture backlog will be dealt with. Hull KR, of course, had just emerged from a long losing sequence by beating Championship Leigh Centurions in the Challenge Cup but they remain with just one win from six Super League outings. McGuire said: “Regarding the rugby side of it, we were down to the bare bones. “We’d only had 18 fit for our last league game at Wigan. “This enforced break will give our injury situation a chance to sort of look after itself and it’s probably one of the only positive things we can take out of it really. “When we get the go-ahead the squad will be in a better position.” And McGuire had managed to do some business before the pandemic closed things down, bringing in New Zealander prop Nathaniel Peteru who had been released by Leeds in October. “We were in the market for a forward and Nate came in just before all this happened,” he said. “We haven’t really had a chance to see him in action yet but he’ll definitely add something to our middles. Most of the stuff we’ve been doing is planning for next year and obviously bringing some of our youngsters through. “There should be some good news in the next couple of weeks regarding some academy players and we’re looking at being quite involved in that. That’s one of the big things we want to do at KR; promote some of our younger players and produce some of our homegrown as well as looking for quality overseas. “That’s an ongoing battle and we’ll keep working hard.” Meanwhile, McGuire, who remains Super League’s greatest try-scorer and won eight Grand Finals with Rhinos, has no regrets about retiring. He said: “I’m not missing playing. I knew I’d made the right decision in the middle of last year. My body was kind of telling me. “After games it’d be three or four days before I could walk properly. “I made my decision to retire at the start of last year and I never once changed my mind throughout the year so it was the right decision and I am still around the game. “I feel like I’m actually enjoying watching the games a bit more which is probably the biggest difference. And I’m still enjoying trying to help Rovers but obviously in an off-field role.”