Still its stupid having Manly, Roosters, most likely Doggies and Newcastle fans all playing in the same stadium, both games by themselves would do better.
Long post disclaimer...
I personally don't like either the Roosters or your club, but feelings aside, I do feel it is very unfair on the Roosters (who have legitimately earned their home final, especially as minor premiers) that they'll have to share it with another match, hence diluting theirs - as well as your Sea Eagles - supporters. Roosters/Sea Eagles is a huge match-up that would've easily got 35k minimum on it's own. It now just completely takes the gloss off the match-up having a double header at the SFS, There may've been a very SLIGHT justification for the double-header decision if it ended up being Roosters/Storm, but now it's a marquee all-Sydney match this is really going to blow up in the NRL's face and Greenburg - whom although was lauded by most on this forum, I started having doubts about as far back as last year's NRL GF when he defended James Graham's biting incident - is now showing himself to be very incompetent by talking up about how happy fans are with his decision!!!! What??? Is he serious about that? Those fans must be imaginary ones in his mind.
And yes, I agree, I highly doubt that the majority of Sharks and either Knights/Cowboys fans will stay for the 2nd game, especially if their team gets knocked-out in the earlier match, not to mention that others have said the intermission between the two matches is just way too long. If they really wanted a true double-header, it needed to be back-to-back like it was last year when the Storm/Rabbitohs match was at 5:55pm followed by the Cowboys/Broncos at 7:55pm. Looking at the kickoff times of 4pm and 7pm on Saturday, I can defintely see that Ch9 have once again got their grubby hands all over the scheduling as they don't like anyone to touch their 6pm news bulletin (e.g. the Corey Parker incident in 2009 IIRC where he needed to kick from the sideline to force the game into golden point but because the time was already 5:59pm you knew he had missed it before he kicked it).
I see this year that the AFL made a rare concession and allowed Geelong to play their home final yesterday at Geelong instead of Etihad Stadium, which is where lower-drawing Melbourne teams have had to play their home week 1 final when the 4 hosts have been Victorian sides and hence the MCG hosted the other three finals in the first week). I know the NRL changed the rules in 2011 which meant Sydney teams have to play their home finals at either ANZ or SFS (mainly instigated by the Dragons/Eels debacle at Kogarah in 2009, followed by the Dragons/Sea Eagles the following year. The Daily Telegraph got their way at the end of the day with their staunch campaigning), but REALLY the NRL should've allowed the Sharks a similar concession which would've avoided this awful, messy situation that will be for all to see on tv next Saturday. As a Knights fan, I wouldn't have had any qualms about playing the game at Shark Park if we did end up having to play the Sharks, however I could see the huge stink this would've caused with other Sydney teams in the future who play out of suburban grounds, questioning the NRL as to why they can't play week 1 finals at their home ground. The next best compromise would've been to have the Sharks vs Knights/Cowboys match at either the SCG or at Parramatta Stadium. Although the SCG/Moore Park precinct is closer to Cronulla, the capacity of Parramatta would've been more suited to the match-up. Either way, the NRL can't cry foul and say they were FORCED into this situation; they've simply just dug themselves a very deep hole. The NRL really screwed up big-time here.
OT, Another potential screw up that has been also discussed is that Knights/Titans/Raiders are not eligible to host home preliminary (week 3) finals, yet teams like Cowboys and Storm (that play out of venues with less capacity than the Knights) can. It will suck one day if my team, the Knights, have to play a "home" PF against the Bulldogs at ANZ or the Roosters at the SFS. Completely unfair. I know us Knights fans love to give it to the Raiders fans, but I will feel sorry for them if likewise, they have to play a home PF in the future against a Sydney team at their venue rather than Canberra. Titans situation isn't so bad because Suncorp is only one hours drive away from the Robina district, but still.
