Victoria in bold bid to host NRL Grand Final

[Perth Red]

If they are going to introduce a Perth club in time for next TV deal in 2023 then bring it to our new stadium 2021 to generate serious hype for the game and the introduction of the new club, otherwise not much point holding it in Perth.

 

[Perth Red]

Is the Victorian government really interested in the NRL becoming bigger down there? All the rhetoric always seems to be about bragging rights and self-congratulation for being the 'sporting capital' rather than any genuine interest in growing the game. If they want the big event it should come as a package deal with a bunch of other ongoing growth initiatives that are important to the NRL.

I guess if we can almost double the crowd during the stadium refurb it is worth considering. Is it really a guaranteed 90K crowd though? Origin is something we have that is unique and has clear air as a mid week game competing with regular season rounds

Its about big events and bringing money through sports tourism into the city. Try getting a hotel on grand prix weekend! I reckon it would sell out at MCG no problem. Melbournians are more into sport generally, are used to attending sporting events in large numbers and there would be tens of thousands of RL fans from all parts of the country flying in to see it.

Have to laugh at the "must be in Sydney". Don't need to look any further to see why our game still has such a limited reach after 100 years.

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

Does everyone forget that the afl gf is played at the mcg on the same weekend as the nrl gf? Evening if the nrl gf is pushed back a week it'll still get lost in the hype and aftermath of the afl gf in Melbourne. It's simple, hold the gf in Brisbane, have a day grand final so that it is a bit more of a special event. I hate Brisbane but the place deserves a rugby league GF

Even if we were to avoid melbourne based on this, i would still have Perth above Brissy for the majority of the years...

THis would propel RL forward in that city donkeys years. The exposure + juniors funding and a promise to finish the rec. stadium (assuming the Pirates are due there at SOME point) would be far more profitable that a game in Brissy for half the number and exclusively to pre-existing fans.

(and i can just hear the whinging when the ticket prices are released; with half the capacity, they just about doubt in cost)

 

[Babyface O'reilly]

Its about big events and bringing money through sports tourism into the city. Try getting a hotel on grand prix weekend! I reckon it would sell out at MCG no problem. Melbournians are more into sport generally, are used to attending sporting events in large numbers and there would be tens of thousands of RL fans from all parts of the country flying in to see it.

Have to laugh at the "must be in Sydney". Don't need to look any further to see why our game still has such a limited reach after 100 years.

Didn't hurt Aussie Rules given that the GF will never be played out of Melbourne.

 

[TheDalek079]

If they are going to introduce a Perth club in time for next TV deal in 2023 then bring it to our new stadium 2021 to generate serious hype for the game and the introduction of the new club, otherwise not much point holding it in Perth.

nah. Perth sucks

 

[LESStar58]

Sydney has its issues with transport infrastructure - most notably the poor state of Parramatta road and insufficient rail, but Melbourne isn't much better in reality. The amount of time I've spent stuck in grid-lock traffic from the airport and through the CBD during rush hour when I go down there for work is astonishing.

Again, if you wanted to look at the cities with the best transport infrastructure, Melbourne would not be high on the list of 'ease of access' when you compare it to cities in places like Japan, Taiwan, France etc.

You can't lay claim to being the world's most liveable city and not have a train line to the airport.

 

[LESStar58]

Is the Victorian government really interested in the NRL becoming bigger down there? All the rhetoric always seems to be about bragging rights and self-congratulation for being the 'sporting capital' rather than any genuine interest in growing the game. If they want the big event it should come as a package deal with a bunch of other ongoing growth initiatives that are important to the NRL.

s

Nailed it. It's just chest beating.

 

[Albert Rosenfeld]

Perth and the MCG are no good for watching rugby league or union or soccer. Seats are too far away from the playing field.

The only people who would go to Perth or the MCG would be fans of the contending teams, unless of course Agnatius Paasi was playing, in which case his parents Darcy and Marcie would bring all their friends and relatives.

 

[BunniesMan]

:lol::lol: Self proclaimed this, self proclaimed that.
Melbourne will never be Australia's number 1 city, even if by some miracle the population does surpass Sydney (not in our lifetime) it will still be a distant number 2.

Have you ever been to Melbourne? Let alone lived there? Melbourne has geography in its favour, but the infrastructure is just as garbage there as it is in Sydney. Stop posting on things you have no idea about.

I am in Melbourne now. The key weakness of this city is having to click over to Gem to watch NRL.

But besides that it is clearly better than Sydney. The infrastructure is not worse. It is clearly better. The trains and trams are better. The arterial road network is far more economical and logical. Melbourne has more people within 30 minutes travel of the CBD than Sydney.

It is also much easier to get around via public transport.

Oh for gods sake shut up. The only people who talk like this are AFL crazy deadshits who are bitter about not having the good fortune to be born in Sydney and thus lacking the property capital to move there. Because they have a few indie Laneway gigs they somehow convinced themselves (and gullible idiots like you) that Melbourne is superior to Sydney. Well it isn't. And the fact they spend so much energy trying to prove it is, is all the proof you need to the contrary. Sydney, even with the lockouts, is one of the best cities in the world and Melbourne doesn't even rate.

Melbourne consistently ranks higher (and often the very higehst at number 1) on INTERNATIONAL city rankings written by people who are not biased locals. Melbourne has cheaper cost of living than Sydney and better public transport. Those are objective facts.

Shut up, bunniesderp.

I live here, prefer Melbourne to Sydney despite being born in the Harbor City but the self appointed titles Melbourne likes to give itself make it inbearable at times.

When a local rabbits on about being the best city in the world I simply ask if they've ever been to Chicago. End of story.

This is done by the british EIU:
http://media.heraldsun.com.au/files/liveability.pdf

Melbourne's stadia are more accessible and the CBD is a more genuine "centre" of the city, but in terms of "geographic assets" I'm not sure what Melbourne has over Sydney...



Not until 2056 mate, and that's only going by current projections, so it's hardly a big difference in growth rates.



You mean apart from the fact that the planners inexplicably decided to put the airport way out of the city and yet not include a rail link. A genius decision that makes your cab trip to the CBD take almost as long as the flight from Sydney during peak hour, whereas Sydney far more sensibly has a train line straight to the city from the airport that takes all of 10 minutes.

Don't get me wrong, I really like Melbourne, and I think their stadium infrastructure is much better than ours, but from a public transport perspective Melbourne isn't much better than Sydney really - it still takes forever to get anywhere during peak hour and the rail infrastructure is possibly even worse than city-rail a times.

I used to live in Japan, and I can tell you now that if you were looking for a good model of public transport infrastructure you wouldn't be mentioning Melbourne, as by global standards it belongs on the blooper reel as much as Sydney.

In any case, all of this simply belies the fact that the MCG is the WORST place to watch any footy code that is not the AFL... I went and watched a Bledisloe there a few years back and it was bloody attrocious. I couldn't see bugger all from my seats. Bringing the GF to Melbourne might be a good publicity stunt, but as a city Melbournians are probably more parochial than any other in not just Australia, but this side of the Pacific, and I just don't see them backing the game.

I'd be happy enough to see them bring 1 GF there for promotional purpose, but in terms of growth I think we'd be better off taking a GF to Auckland.

Is the MCG as good for rectangular sports as the Bernabeu or Camp Nou? No of course not. But ANZ in its current form is shit with too many seats too far from the ground. So the standard is not particularly high.

And yes airport infrastructure is not a strength but in Sydney unless you live in Southeast Sydney right near the airport it is also hard to get there too.

Again, Melbourne is not perfect but even its weak points are no worse and often better than Sydney. And its strengths are way ahead of Sydney.

Perth and the MCG are no good for watching rugby league or union or soccer. Seats are too far away from the playing field.

The only people who would go to Perth or the MCG would be fans of the contending teams, unless of course Agnatius Paasi was playing, in which case his parents Darcy and Marcie would bring all their friends and relatives.

If Melbourne can host Origin it can host the grand final.

 

[LESStar58]

Chicago >>>>>>>>>>>>> Melbourne

 

[ek999]

If they are going to introduce a Perth club in time for next TV deal in 2023 then bring it to our new stadium 2021 to generate serious hype for the game and the introduction of the new club, otherwise not much point holding it in Perth.

They can't even get the field markings correct so why should a match be played there?

 

[ek999]

I am in Melbourne now. The key weakness of this city is having to click over to Gem to watch NRL.

But besides that it is clearly better than Sydney. The infrastructure is not worse. It is clearly better. The trains and trams are better. The arterial road network is far more economical and logical. Melbourne has more people within 30 minutes travel of the CBD than Sydney.

It is also much easier to get around via public transport.

Melbourne consistently ranks higher (and often the very higehst at number 1) on INTERNATIONAL city rankings written by people who are not biased locals. Melbourne has cheaper cost of living than Sydney and better public transport. Those are objective facts.

This is done by the british EIU:
http://media.heraldsun.com.au/files/liveability.pdf

Is the MCG as good for rectangular sports as the Bernabeu or Camp Nou? No of course not. But ANZ in its current form is shit with too many seats too far from the ground. So the standard is not particularly high.

And yes airport infrastructure is not a strength but in Sydney unless you live in Southeast Sydney right near the airport it is also hard to get there too.

Again, Melbourne is not perfect but even its weak points are no worse and often better than Sydney. And its strengths are way ahead of Sydney.


If Melbourne can host Origin it can host the grand final.

You seem to know a lot about Melbourne. Whereabouts in Melbourne do you live to know all this?

 

[RoosTah]

I am in Melbourne now. The key weakness of this city is having to click over to Gem to watch NRL.

But besides that it is clearly better than Sydney. The infrastructure is not worse. It is clearly better. The trains and trams are better. The arterial road network is far more economical and logical. Melbourne has more people within 30 minutes travel of the CBD than Sydney.

My sister lives in Melbourne and I travel down there pretty well once a month for work along with our other major cities, and whilst I don't mind Melbourne, it never ceases to amaze me how up their own arse Melbournians are about their city. If half of them had travelled to any advanced economy in Asia they wouldn't be describing their trams and trains with anything other than pejoratives.

Honestly, Sydney's trains and busses suck if you're not in the right spot (although it works beautifully for me where I live in the East), but Melbourne's public transport is absolute crap past the CBD and it's trains in particular seen to have an even worse grasp of punctuality than ours.

As for the city more generally, it's very much a horses for courses affair. If the hipster life is your thing, you'll love Melbourne as it's like one massive Newtown, but if that's not your thing then it's kind of a drag.

Personally, I think it's fine for a visit, but Sydney's lifestyle is just far better.

Is the MCG as good for rectangular sports as the Bernabeu or Camp Nou? No of course not. But ANZ in its current form is shit with too many seats too far from the ground. So the standard is not particularly high.

And yes airport infrastructure is not a strength but in Sydney unless you live in Southeast Sydney right near the airport it is also hard to get there too.

Again, Melbourne is not perfect but even its weak points are no worse and often better than Sydney. And its strengths are way ahead of Sydney.

If Melbourne can host Origin it can host the grand final.

Melbourne certainly can host an NRL Grand Final, and likely will, but speaking as one who has seen a Bledisloe at the MCG I can tell you the match day experience will be better on TV than at the ground. There is literally no other stadium in the country where you are further from the action for Rugby League/Union/Soccer and the experience is pretty ordinary as a result.

With regard to the airport line, the point about it is that the majority of traffic from both airports goes to and from the CBD. This is particularly so with Sydney to Melbourne travellers as the vast majority are business customers and THAT is why it is so utterly ridiculous that Melbourne's planning foresight saw fit to turn what could have been a 10 minute trip by rail to a 1 hour+ trip by car when peak hour hits.

 

[Raiderdave]

I am in Melbourne now. The key weakness of this city is having to click over to Gem to watch NRL.

But besides that it is clearly better than Sydney. The infrastructure is not worse. It is clearly better. The trains and trams are better. The arterial road network is far more economical and logical. Melbourne has more people within 30 minutes travel of the CBD than Sydney.

It is also much easier to get around via public transport.

Melbourne consistently ranks higher (and often the very higehst at number 1) on INTERNATIONAL city rankings written by people who are not biased locals. Melbourne has cheaper cost of living than Sydney and better public transport. Those are objective facts.

This is done by the british EIU:
http://media.heraldsun.com.au/files/liveability.pdf

Is the MCG as good for rectangular sports as the Bernabeu or Camp Nou? No of course not. But ANZ in its current form is shit with too many seats too far from the ground. So the standard is not particularly high.

And yes airport infrastructure is not a strength but in Sydney unless you live in Southeast Sydney right near the airport it is also hard to get there too.

Again, Melbourne is not perfect but even its weak points are no worse and often better than Sydney. And its strengths are way ahead of Sydney.


If Melbourne can host Origin it can host the grand final.

Oh F off you know nothing dribbler
If you said the sky was blue

I'd still check.:roll:

 

[Raiderdave]

My sister lives in Melbourne and I travel down there pretty well once a month for work along with our other major cities, and whilst I don't mind Melbourne, it never ceases to amaze me how up their own arse Melbournians are about their city. If half of them had travelled to any advanced economy in Asia they wouldn't be describing their trams and trains with anything other than pejoratives.

Honestly, Sydney's trains and busses suck if you're not in the right spot (although it works beautifully for me where I live in the East), but Melbourne's public transport is absolute crap past the CBD and it's trains in particular seen to have an even worse grasp of punctuality than ours.

As for the city more generally, it's very much a horses for courses affair. If the hipster life is your thing, you'll love Melbourne as it's like one massive Newtown, but if that's not your thing then it's kind of a drag.

Personally, I think it's fine for a visit, but Sydney's lifestyle is just far better.



Melbourne certainly can host an NRL Grand Final, and likely will, but speaking as one who has seen a Bledisloe at the MCG I can tell you the match day experience will be better on TV than at the ground. There is literally no other stadium in the country where you are further from the action for Rugby League/Union/Soccer and the experience is pretty ordinary as a result.

With regard to the airport line, the point about it is that the majority of traffic from both airports goes to and from the CBD. This is particularly so with Sydney to Melbourne travellers as the vast majority are business customers and THAT is why it is so utterly ridiculous that Melbourne's planning foresight saw fit to turn what could have been a 10 minute trip by rail to a 1 hour+ trip by car when peak hour hits.

The atmosphere for Origin was electric.
Yeah maybe the viewing was a bit odd.. But it was more then compensated by the constant noise n buzz created by the spectators.
For a once off .. It will be fine
I'd have no real problems with the MCG hosting an NRL GF.

 

[BunniesMan]

You seem to know a lot about Melbourne. Whereabouts in Melbourne do you live to know all this?

I live in Carlton.

 

[strong_latte]

I reckon it's pretty likely that Melbourne will get a GF from the NRL because money+exposure. But I agree with others that the G is awful for rectangular footy codes and I personally wouldn't go to it because frankly my eyesight is below the 80/20 vision necessary at those distances.

As for the Melbourne Sydney debate more generally, I liken Sydney to a bipolar genius and Melbourne to one on meds; Melbourne is nice and steady across the board, but has nothing spectacular to speak of whereas Sydney is absolutely stunning and brilliant in places but downright awful in others. Personally I prefer the mixed bag with its brilliance to the patient on ambien though

 

[gUt]

In my mind, i read this in the voice i imagine your avatar would have.

It was an enjoyable experience :lol::lol:

[youtube]4z54c6KcxXw[/youtube]

 

[JamesRustle]

I live in Carlton.

I'm afraid you're only half way from coffs pal. Have a quick imaginary schonner at the Allawah Hotel before the next half of your imaginary trip.

 

[LESStar58]

I reckon it's pretty likely that Melbourne will get a GF from the NRL because money+exposure. But I agree with others that the G is awful for rectangular footy codes and I personally wouldn't go to it because frankly my eyesight is below the 80/20 vision necessary at those distances.

As for the Melbourne Sydney debate more generally, I liken Sydney to a bipolar genius and Melbourne to one on meds; Melbourne is nice and steady across the board, but has nothing spectacular to speak of whereas Sydney is absolutely stunning and brilliant in places but downright awful in others. Personally I prefer the mixed bag with its brilliance to the patient on ambien though

Melbourne has a superiority complex. It's that simple. Chicago is Melbourne without the superiority complex. That's why I loved it... it reminded me of home but without the brag and bluster of the locals. Sydney I don't really like but there's parts of it that I love... namely the beaches, the pubs and the code of football they prefer.