Eels boss unconvinced about Storm in NRL
By Steve Jancetic 18:32 AEST Tue Sep 18 2007
A sold out Telstra Dome will not be enough to convince Parramatta boss Denis Fitzgerald that Melbourne are worthy of being in the NRL.
Tensions between Sunday's preliminary finalists simmered with Fitzgerald still infuriated at Melbourne's attempted `rort' of having the grand final qualifier played on a confined field.
Storm chief executive Brian Waldron retaliated to the jibe by lightheartedly calling for his Eels rival to be spat on by 40,000 Storm fans.
Fitzgerald has been a very vocal anti-Melbourne campaigner over the years, believing the money being poured into the game in the Victorian capital was not reaping any rewards.
"The jury's out on whether rugby league is growing in Melbourne given the success they've had," Fitzgerald said.
"It's never been a question about how good they are on the field.
"What my thoughts have been there is whether they've been attracting any people at all from AFL.
"There's a lot of money that News Limited have put in it, that's their choice - millions and millions every year, so it's matter of whether rugby league is growing in Melbourne."
Asked if a sold out Telstra Dome on Sunday would change his mind, Fitzgerald said: "I don't think the one game will change my stance on the future of Melbourne."
"It's obviously a do or die game for both teams and I'm expecting it to be a good crowd."
Waldron said he might arrange a special welcoming committee for Fitzgerald on Sunday.
"This is our plan, we will pack it out with 40,000 people dressed in purple," Waldron told Sydney radio station 2KY.
"We will get Fitzy in a purple beanie and put him in the middle of the ground and spit on him together." :lol: :lol:
Fitzgerald was irate on Monday when told the Storm had instructed Telstra Dome officials to mark out the field with the same dimensions as Olympic Park.
The Storm's home ground is more compact than other fields with the NRL granting them special allowances due to the running track that encompasses the playing surface.
The in-goals at Olympic Park are two metres shorter than the regulation eight metres while the field is six metres narrower.
Melbourne have lost only one game at `The Graveyard' over the last two years and are obviously comfortable in the surrounds, but Fitzgerald described their attempts to have the same dimensions on the much more spacious Telstra Dome as a rort.
"I'm very happy that we're playing on the international size field and it was a rort that the Melbourne Storm were trying to pull," Fitzgerald said.
"I was outraged and appalled by it, but probably not so surprised that Melbourne are doing that with Brian Waldron being a blow-in from AFL."
Waldron said the Storm were not trying to do anything untoward in replicating the Olympic Park dimension, claiming they were simply attempting to gain any advantage they could.
"What's dirty about it, all we said straight up we play it at Olympic Park and let's see if Telstra Dome can be the same size," Waldron said.
"We didn't hide it, we sent it through the NRL.
"At the end of the day it doesn't matter, we will sleep with the pillow that we are given.
"We would play them on the moon, we don't give a toss."
