Home Finals

[chrisc101]

I know the League is changing it so all finals up till the grand final are played on home grounds. Does anyone know when this is being introduced? I sat at home and watched the game on Saturday night and couldn't believe they could be dumb enough to play this is Sydney when in Brisbane it would drawn asellout (50K plus) and in Newcastle it would of been a sellout (25-27K).

As well, does anyone know how the new homes finals will work? Will Sydney teams have to play at Aussie Stadium for instance instead of suburban grounds?

The AFL makes us look like chumps when we do things like this, considing all their matches were sold out.

 

[Cheesie-the-Pirate]

This has been covered in a number of threads over the past couple of days, but here you go:

Graham Annesley was on ABC radio yesterday and one of the things he covered was the system for allocating finals for 2007 onwards.

It can basically be summed up as:

Week 1: Home Venues
Week 2: Home Cities
Week 3: Home Regions

Annesley clearly stated (or at the very least he implied) that the third and fourth highest winners from week 1 would earn a final in their home city in week 2. It wasn't crystal clear from what he said, but presumably the first and second highest winners from week 1 would earn a final in their home region in week 3.

From what Annesley said, you'd expect the following venues to be available for the weeks 2 and 3.

Week 2 - Home Cities:

Aussie Stadium, Sydney
Telstra Stadium, Sydney
Canberra Stadium, Canberra
EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle
Olympic Park/New Stadium, Melbourne
Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville
Carrara Stadium/Robina Stadium, Gold Coast

Annesley specifically ruled out WIN Stadium (St. George Illawarra home finals in Week 2 would be played at Aussie or Telstra Stadium) and I'm not completely sure but I think he ruled in Canberra Stadium for week 2. Perhaps a Gold Coast home final would be scheduled for Suncorp Stadium, but I imagine if Canberra Stadium and EnergyAustralia Stadium are acceptable for week 2 I see no reason why the new Robina Stadium wouldn't be. Annesley said that the NRL would consider Telstra Dome for week 3 if it was available, implying that in week 2 the smaller Olympic Park or the new stadium would be considered appropriate.

Week 3 - Home Regions:

Aussie Stadium, Sydney
Telstra Stadium, Sydney
Olympic Park/New Stadium/Telstra Dome, Melbourne
Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville

Annesley said that the test for week 3 'regions' was if fans of the team that has earned the home final could get there relatively easily. I cannot recall the exact phrase he used, but it was something to that effect. I'm quite sure that he implied that Canberra and Newcastle would be expected to get to Sydney for a week 3 final but he definitely pointed out that the distance between North Queensland and Suncorp Stadium was too great and therefore North Queensland would be considered a seperate region to Brisbane and the Gold Coast. See above comments for Telstra Dome. If the expercted crowd were big enough to justify it, perhaps the NRL would consider the larger Eden Park in Auckland for a New Zealand Warriors home final in week 3.
​

 

[Quidgybo]

As well, does anyone know how the new homes finals will work? Will Sydney teams have to play at Aussie Stadium for instance instead of suburban grounds?

It's ridiculous, isn't it? We play week 1 home finals at grounds like Kogarah, Shark Park and potentially Brookvale while two first class multi-million dollar taxpayer funded stadiums sit empty just a couple of miles up the road. And we lock fans out while these two huge stadiums sit empty. IMHO week 1 finals should use exactly the same home city allocation as is proposed for week 2 (with the addition of Wollongng as an approved venue). The argument about home finals has always been about equal and fair access to the biggest games for fans regardless of the location of their team, and about the advantage those fans give the home team. It has never been about strictly home grounds.

Make no mistake these are our showcase games and they should be treated as such. Just because games are now eligible to be played in all the cities that host teams is no reason to have surrendered the tradition of September matches at the big grounds. IMHO the optimum allocation of Sydney finals is fairly obvious. Those teams based on the east side of Sydney (Manly, Cronulla, Easts and Souths) should be hosting their home finals at Aussie, while those in the west (Caterbury, Parra, Penrith, Wests) should be hosting their finals at Telstra. That leaves Saints who with their split base could host finals in Wollongong (week 1) or either Sydney venue in later weeks - although given their long association with the Moore Park area that could easily be justified as their natural finals home.

Leigh.

 

[Slackboy72]

Personally I think neutral venues after week one is best. But I do agree it would be rough on Brisbane and NQ to travel to Sydney.

 

[Cheesie-the-Pirate]

Personally I think neutral venues after week one is best. But I do agree it would be rough on Brisbane and NQ to travel to Sydney.

The only way to achieve truly neutral finals would be to schedule finals on a case-by-case basis outside of the home areas of both participants.

So you'd have to play a St. George/Brisbane game in Melbourne or Auckland.

Compulsory Sydney finals after week one are not neutral.

 

[lockyno1]

Personally I think neutral venues after week one is best. But I do agree it would be rough on Brisbane and NQ to travel to Sydney.

Have a look at the crowd figures for last weekend for instance and then try and make that statement again! Home finals are a dead must. They add to the crowd numbers and to the atmosphere!

 

[Quidgybo]

Personally I think neutral venues after week one is best. But I do agree it would be rough on Brisbane and NQ to travel to Sydney.

Only Brisbane and NQ?!? What about Melbourne, Auckland and, in future years, the Gold Coast? Don't they count? Let me assure you not only would it be rough, it is rough and has been for the past decade of the national competition. And not only on the non-Sydney teams who are consistently disadvantaged come finals time by the away crowd and the travel, but also on their fans who turn out week after week to support the game but are then denied fair and affordable access to the biggest games their team can play.

Leigh.

 

[Ice777]

Personally I think neutral venues after week one is best. But I do agree it would be rough on Brisbane and NQ to travel to Sydney.

Best for who? The teams that play out of Sydney who get the home crowd even though they may finish lower on the ladder? How the hell is Telstra Stadium a nuetral venue given it's in Sydney and Melbobourne have to playu there?

Fair enough we have to play in Sydney this week as those are the rules in place and i have no problem with that, but next year it'll be fair on every team and tteams that finish higer on the ladder will get the advantage and rightly so.