colonel_123
Juniors
- Messages
- 1,089
gregstar said:again - i can only forward the impression i got from the media hype. plenty of former balmain players were interviewed & only raudonikus seemed to be the token magpie thrown in for "balance". it seemed & still seems weighted heavily in the balmain flavour. no doubt former steelers feel the same about our current setup.
While I do agree that the media does seem to focus on the "Tigers" aspect more then the "Wests" side of things, I can understand it in the sense of the former players, mostly because the former Balmain players that got all the attention in the lead up to the 2005 premiership were the players from the 1988 and 1989 sides.
And as a fan from the Wests side I didn't really mind this, in fact I liked having that bit of history associated with the club, the idea of exorcising some of the club's demons.
gregstar said:well you'd know more than i so far as the breakdown of fans is concerned, but how "homely" is stadium australia?
I don't mind seeing games there.
I guess when your club is associated with some good victories at the venue a bit of history starts to rub off and maybe it feels a bit like home. I still love games at the traditional venues but I goto all three grounds to watch my team.
well it will be interesting to see how it pans out if campbelltown & leichardt continue to only get 3 games each a season.
Well the deal with Telstra will be expiring soon so we'll see what new arrangement they work out. Telstra now has three clubs using the ground so they may be unwilling to throw the same sort of money at Wests as they were the last time they negotiated a deal. Also Campbelltown and Leichhardt have/are getting lighting upgrades which will eliminate the need to hire lighting for night fixtures which should make it a bit cheaper to play there.
I wouldn't be surprised if they return a few more games to the traditional venues.
But to be honest, I think one of the best things to happen for the traditional grounds has been the move to Telstra. Every time I goto a match at Leichhardt or Campbelltown it feels like a big event, a bit of a carnival. Since the Telstra deal Wests have usually managed to draw decent crowds at both grounds, irrespective of where they are on the ladder.
It also allows the opportunity for Wests to draw 20 000+ crowds during the season, since you can't cram that many people in at Leichhardt or Campbelltown.
I think ideally I'd like to see something like a 5, 5, 2 split with two block buster matches kept at Telstra, sort of like the Titans have done this season with Lang Park.