Melbourne's bid to host the NRL Grand Final has taken a bizarre turn after Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle slammed Sydney - and one suburb in particular - in an extraordinary radio appearance.
Cr Doyle spoke on-air with 2GB host Ben Fordham about why the Victorian capital should be given the chance to host rugby league's biggest event just days after last week's 90,000-strong State of Origin crowd.
He claimed the Melbourne Cricket Ground could draw 100,000 for the grand final, compared to lower crowds at ANZ Stadium - which Cr Doyle persistently misnamed "Homebush Stadium"
However, not content with plugging his own city, Cr Doyle took aim at Sydney in a series of stunning broadsides that took particular aim at the southwestern suburb of Punchbowl.
"It's outrageous isn't it - the events capital of the world suggesting we could improve on something that happens in, what is it, Homebush Stadium, travelling through the salubrious suburb of Punchbowl?" he said.
Fordham was stunned, asking if his caller was truly the Lord Mayor before asking if he had ever been to Punchbowl - part of the home base for last year's NRL grand final runners-up, the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.
"I had to go out to Homebush Stadium to do some work ... I had to go through Punchbowl, where surely the suburb flag is a car on blocks with grass growing through its differential on the nature strip," he said.
He said ANZ Stadium was in a poor location for most fans.
"You could walk to the MCG," he said.
"Tell me where you could walk from Homebush Stadium to get a decent feed?"
Fordham quipped that sports fans could enjoy a "$9 pie" at the stadium.
Cr Doyle said Melbourne did not want to permanently "steal" the NRL Grand Final, but said it was worth looking at the possibility of making a week-long "sports festival" event including both the NRL and AFL premiership battles.
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