Home finals up for grabs

[nqboy]

http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,18346380-23214,00.html

SYDNEY would lose its right to host preliminary finals under a document circulated to NRL clubs last week.

Graham Annesley, the league's chief operating officer, has tabled a proposal that teams get home state or country advantage on the penultimate weekend of the season from next year. That means if Melbourne, Brisbane, North Queensland or the Warriors are higher ranked than their preliminary-final opponents, they would be able to use approved venues in their home territories to play for a grand final berth.

"One of the things to come out of recent seasons is the need to be less Sydney-centric in our finals," Annesley said of his discussion paper. "There are some anomalies. One of them is that North Queensland would have to play in Brisbane and that is still a long way for them and their supporters to go. Fans of Newcastle, Canberra or St George Illawarra can get in a car and come to Sydney but Cowboys fans wouldn't be able to do that so easily."

The difficulty of promoting the Melbourne-North Queensland semi-final at Aussie Stadium last year is thought to be behind the philosophy.

Only once since finals were introduced in 1954 has a match on the second last weekend of the season been held outside Sydney. That was in 1998, when eventual premiers Brisbane beat Sydney City 46-18 at ANZ Stadium.

Allelujia.

 

[Dr Crane]

Hell yes.

 

[choc_soldier]

It's a national competition - no dramas with it.

 

[Russell Crowe's Band]

good idea

 

[ngap]

Only thing I would say is give the top team the choice of where to play. Eg The Cowboys should have the right to say we don't want to play in Brisbane if they are playing Brisbane.
Or the choice of the SFS or Telstra depending on who you are playing.

 

[nqboy]

Only thing I would say is give the top team the choice of where to play. Eg The Cowboys should have the right to say we don't want to play in Brisbane if they are playing Brisbane.

Agree. I couldn't work out from the article whether Cowboys fans had to travel to Brisvegas, even if we weren't playing Brissie. Might be better for the financial bottom line, DFS (25-26K) wouldn't be big enough if we were hosting.

Or the choice of the SFS or Telstra depending on who you are playing.

Not as clearcut as it might appear. I think the NRL should have some input on this one. You don't want a team booking the SFS (42,000) because they've qualified and their fans have already bought up 35000 tickets. Certainly Illasox v Tigpies last year is something we'd want ot avoid again.

 

[Steven Gerrard]

What about Canberra - always forgetting the ACT the bastards.

 

[nqboy]

"Fans of Newcastle, Canberra or St George Illawarra can get in a car and come to Sydney"

 

[Steven Gerrard]

Wheres the home advantage in that?

 

[LESStar58]

It's a national competition - no dramas with it.

Exactly! That Storm vs Cowboys game should have been moved to Olympic Park. We won our first final, the Cowboys did not. The argument was where it should be played, Townsville or Melbourne and the Cows twat of a CEO, Keefe or whatever, got his nose stuck in and said he wouldn't approve it moving.

Lots on bad blood between the 2 clubs after that Carl Webb/Ryan Hoffman kinghit/grapple tackle incident but had it been at Olympic the result coulda been different. Sure it was close in the end bt we would gone through to the next round had it been here!

 

[Bomber]

LESStar, based on the precedent set in 2004, I totally agree with you. However, this particular argument is only about the preliminary finals - it doesn't cover all finals, does it?

In that case, Brisbane v Warriors and Storm v Cowboys in Sydney in Week 2 of the finals would still be a certanity.

 

[Alan Shore]

Sensible move from the NRL here

 

[Razor]

Wheres the home advantage in that?

It's home STATE advantage.

Canberra, WIN, and EnergyAustralia aren't big enough. Ditto for Dairy Farmers & Olympic Park.

Cowboys & Gold Coast will have to play at Suncorp or ANZ
Melbourne will have to play at the MCG or Dome
All NSW clubs + Canberra will have to play at Aussie or Telstra

 

[Phil McGrawhan]

. Sure it was close in the end bt we would gone through to the next round had it been here!

Another sore loser talking crap.You were beaten by 8 pts & your 1st try was from a dropped ball ... move on.

 

[Dr Crane]

Warriors, i imagine, would have to play at Eden Park then.

 

[Copa]

It's home STATE advantage.

Canberra, WIN, and EnergyAustralia aren't big enough. Ditto for Dairy Farmers & Olympic Park.

Cowboys & Gold Coast will have to play at Suncorp or ANZ
Melbourne will have to play at the MCG or Dome
All NSW clubs + Canberra will have to play at Aussie or Telstra

Home state advantage?? Canberra isn't in NSW.

It should be in Canberra.. and not a 4 hour journey to the stadium in SYdney.

 

[Razor]

Home state advantage?? Canberra isn't in NSW.

It should be in Canberra.. and not a 4 hour journey to the stadium in SYdney.

Notice I said All NSW Clubs + Canberra. That indiciates Canberra isn't a NSW club

Canberra don't have a suitable stadium. If they build one, they'll be able to have it there. But they can't have it in such a small stadium.

 

[Steven Gerrard]

Have you ever been to Canberra Stadium - that is a world class facility.If it's good enough for the Olympic Games, then it's good enough for a Semi Final.
It's hosted the Super 12 Final as well.

 

[LESStar58]

Another sore loser talking crap.You were beaten by 8 pts & your 1st try was from a dropped ball ... move on.

For starters..I am not a sore loser! I will freely admit that Storm were WOEFUL to begin with and we probably did deserve to not win. That try that Ingliss had denied in the 1st half probably took a bit of confidence away and Bell was VERY lucky to have that try allowed in the 2nd.

And 8 points isn't a great deal when you think about it! It could have been MUCH more than that but the Cows let us back in....it coulda been as little as a 6 point deficit if Orford had converted King's sideline try!

 

[nqboy]

You're talking sh*t Lesstar, but I do like Flogging Molly.