NRL star's wife takes aim at 'disgusting' relocation decision as AFL gun admits he 'wouldn't have played'

The wife of Dolphins player Kodi Nikorima has labelled the NRL's decision to relocate Friday night's match against the Rabbitohs from Brisbane to Sydney as "disgusting".

The comments come as Brisbane AFL star Lachie Neale revealed he would have refused to play in his side's season-opening fixture against Geelong on Thursday had the game been moved to a different location.

The AFL postponed two games originally scheduled to be played in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast this week as Tropical Cyclone Alfred heads towards Queensland's south coast.

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However, the NRL opted not to postpone its game and instead moved it from Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium to Sydney's CommBank Stadium.

The Dolphins and Rabbitohs will square off at 8pm Sydney time, which is 7pm Queensland time.

While NRL bosses saved the clash and avoided a scheduling issue, the call to move Queensland-based players and staff away from their families in the face of the potentially catastrophic weather event has been lambasted by Bree Nikorima.

The wife of the Dolphins player suggested the governing body did not put enough thought into the decision, with families left to battle the wild and potentially dangerous weather on their own.

"Because a game of football is THAT IMPORTANT," she wrote in an Instagram post, which has since been deleted.

"Leaving the families behind to ride out the direct line of cyclone alone. Some with no support at all.

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"I'm 6 months pregnant with 2 young kids in an area that can flood, disgusting... Do better NRL."

Wide World of Sports contacted the Dolphins for comment but the club declined.

Intriguingly, no one from the Dolphins was quoted in a press release on Tuesday confirming the relocation.

Wide World of Sports also contacted the NRL for comment.

The Brisbane Lions were originally set to unfurl their premiership flag at the Gabba ahead of their match against Geelong, but Neale said people in town were more concerned about the impending storm rather than the special occasion.

He said he's glad the AFL made the call but if they chose to relocate he wouldn't have played in the match.

"I think my first opinion on that would have been I wouldn't have played, I would have stayed here with Jules and the kids, and we have a dog here as well," the 31-year-old told Fox Sports.

"Unless they were willing to fly families as well — which on pretty short notice I'm not sure they could have organised that — but if they were able to fly families out of town and we could have sorted out the dog, then I would've done it, but I wouldn't have left Jules [Neale's wife] here with our three-year-old daughter and a 10-week, 11-week-old little boy.

"I wouldn't have played."

Many other sporting events have either been impacted by the storm, with the WPGA Championship at the Sanctuary Golf and Country Club in Hope Island being rescheduled.

Neale conceded there was a sense of relief among the playing group, since they were not forced to leave their families.

'I think that (relief) is the overwhelming sense here in Brisbane," he said.

"(It was) the news that we were waiting for and expecting for a couple of days, really.

"I sort of didn't really know too much about it until Sunday, I reckon, and then we got told in our leadership meeting Sunday afternoon that there's a cyclone on its way and it could affect the game Thursday, and it sort of snowballed from there.

"Just looking at the weather map and the predictions of what lies ahead over the next 48-72 hours, the right call was made, I think, and we'll bunker down here for a few days and hope for the best and then see what the damages are and go from there and move onto Sydney... the grand final rematch next week."