https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/do...plans-succumb-to-big-wet-20210318-p57c0x.html
i must say a 'new' comp below NRL, a semi professional comp must be created. The extra content could be sold to media. The money for 17th team in Brisbane/Qld should be used instead to create a new comp. Anyway a story in SMH (above) and Below in regards to 3 grades having difficlty this weekend due to the big wet.
to Big Wet
By Christian Nicolussi
March 18, 2021 — 7.24pm
The NRL’s much-vaunted return of three grades on the same day has hit a quagmire in just the second round of competition, with Sydney’s Big Wet forcing the relocation of games from Central Coast Stadium, Lottoland and possibly Bankwest Stadium.
Monsoon conditions in the city are set to see up to 50mm of rain fall on Friday then up to a staggering 120mms on Saturday.
Current Time 2:48
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Duration 2:48
See the top five tries from round 1 of the 2021 NRL Premiership.
Bankwest Stadium staff, who prepared to host the Eels-Melbourne NRL blockbuster on Thursday night, A-League side the Western Sydney Wanderers and then a Canterbury-Penrith double-header on Saturday, struggled to keep the paint markings on the surface because of the constant deluge.
It remains to be seen if the Mounties-Panthers reserve-grade game can even be shifted, because it is set to be beamed live on TV.
The Knights-Newtown Jets clash has already been moved from Gosford on Friday, while Blacktown and Souths have been flicked to Sunday to ensure Lottoland - a ground whose playing surface is notoriously poor whenever it rains - is protected for the Sea Eagles-Rabbitohs NRL clash on Saturday evening.
ARL Commission chairman Peter V’Landys was eager to embrace tradition and rush through the return of triple-headers - 20 are slated for this year - but the concept is already posing a logistical nightmare.
Lottoland is expected to hold up in Sydney’s big wet.Credit:Getty
“It’s an unfair assessment to say this [triple-header] concept is not feasible,” NRL head of football Graham Annesley told the
Herald. “Games forever and a day have been affected by bad weather. Even when we used to see all three grades, the earlier grades were re located because of the pitch.
“Given the weather we usually have in Australia, it doesn’t happen often - it’s more a case of bad luck it’s happened this early in the season.”
Annesley was due to inspect Lottoland on Friday before the reserve-grade game was moved altogether.
Sea Eagles boss Steve Humphries remains a fan of having all three grades on the one day, but challenges with weather were always going to exist.
“It will be a best-endeavours approach, we’ll do whatever we can, but there will be occasions we need to be flexible,” Humphries said.
As for Lottoland moving on from its “Brookie bog” reputation, Humphries said: “New drainage was done at the end of 2019 and there were improvements to the pitch itself, so it’s never been better.”
Campbelltown is scheduled to host a reserve-grade game featuring Wests and Joseph Suaalii’s North Sydney on Sunday, and the Wests Tigers confirmed the stadium was still expected to host its double-header.
The big concern will be how playing surfaces hold up with the extra traffic through the winter months. Broadcasters will be mindful of the optics and whether NRL players are forced to play on muddy surfaces.
South Sydney prop Tom Burgess told the
Herald last month how he had never suffered ankle problems until he arrived in Australia and played on hard and often muddy playing surfaces.
“I was used to the sloppy mud in Dewsbury, then you play for the Bears at a place like Henson Park, there was a cricket pitch in the middle ... I never strapped my ankles until I moved here,” Burgess said.
