Are you comfortable with Penrith being able to play week 1 at Penrith?
No. I think that it is a sub par ground too. That semi should be played at Parra stadium, until they get their own quality stadium, if it happens. I really will be disappointed if they miss out and the new Panthers stadium is scrapped though.
We need to get as much as we can out of our Governments for stadiums and anything else RL needs to advance itself in these areas.
Panthers stadium is barely adequate for club NRL games. I rarely watch games that are televised there unless it is with a top team and the game stays competitive or they are playing Parra there. Otherwise I just don't watch games that look like they are armature and being played in old parks. I think I may have watched 3 or 4 games played at Penrith this year and not total games either.
Sorry, I have been following RL for around 5 decades now, and I am just over the amateurism. If a game hasn't got atmosphere or is boring, I just don't have the enthusiasm anymore to stay tuned. I want events and entertainment. There are just to many other things I could be doing or watching that I turn to.
The NRL have a hell of a lot of competition. I never used to be like this. I used to watch virtually all the games. But over the last couple of seasons in particular, I'm just over the ARLC/NRL being so pathetic and getting so many things wrong that could and should be fixed relatively easily and now with blowouts being more common place, the decision to switch off is easy to do. I still watch most games at Lang Park, Cowboys Stadium Parra Stadium, Mel Stadium, NC Stadium. Will also start to watch games when the SFS opens up too. Even when there is a smaller crowd at these venues it generally still feels like it is a decent event and is a professional sporting game. Not park footy.
Still the greatest game of all, but not everywhere it is being played or all the time. So imagine if I am feeling like this, how the Gen Z and females feel about the game? Todays society has a very short attention span and need events and winners if you want to get that attention. League is half in and half out as far as that goes. If you are just a neutral observer for example flicking through channels looking for something to grab you, RL games sometimes look the goods and then other times you can't flick the channel on fast enough. That needs to change if you want the game to grow. It can't have that type of Jekyll and Hyde look and feel about it. Otherwise the non rusted on fans will mostly ignore it. The impression it leave is not good. Sport needs hype. Stadiums help do that, parks only do that for possums. pigeons and people on the beat.