By Steve Jancetic
December 3rd 2009 @ 3:24am
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Dragons slip up fails to alter finals set-up
St George Illawarra’s stunning NRL finals demise has not affected the game’s decision makers with the McIntyre system to be retained in its current format next season.
The Dragons this year became the first minor premiers to be bundled out in straight sets when they lost to Parramatta and Brisbane in consecutive weeks.
Their speedy exit prompted [...]
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Paul J said | December 3rd 2009 @ 8:03am | Report comment
It’s not about making sure teams have home ground advantage it’s about making sure the ground is big enough for all the fans to see the game.
If Newcastle, Brisbane, Cowboys, Titans or Warriors have a home final they make sure they play it in their biggest stadium and that as many fans as possible can go to the game.
Sydney by its sheer size has more teams, more people and more stadiums that anyone else. If a Sydney team has to move to a bigger Sydney stadium to cater for all the fans then they should be made to do it. They still have home ground advantage as they are still playing in Sydney. They’re not being asked to play in Brisbane or Auckland.
Cotton McKnight said | December 4th 2009 @ 1:28pm | Report comment
Paul, are you telling me that if any Sydney team was made to play a semi at Homebush against Canterbury Bulldogs, you would still class this as a “home game”, as opposed to playing at say, Parramatta,Bookvale, Kogarah, Shark Park, Penrith or Cambelltown? Any team that calls Homebush or even SFS as their home ground would have an advantage.
As for Newcastle, Cowboys, Brisbane and the Titans do not have any other stadium to play in, except Brisbane, but their stadium is already the biggest. As for the Warriors moving to the larger Eden Park (45,472 capacity as against Mt Smart 26,000), I bet that will never happen. Newcastle ground is 26,126, Canberra is 25,000,Kogarah 22,000, win 23,000(next year),Cronulla 21,000,Brookvale 23,000, Parramatta 20,000, Campbelltown 20,000, should they all have to move? And at Skilled Park in the Gold Coast, 27,000, is this enough?
After slogging it out for 26 rounds, finishing up the top of the table, there must be some reward, otherwise, what’s the point?
Springs said | December 4th 2009 @ 2:51pm | Report comment
Every final used to be played at the SCG. And guess what? The best team won. The Dragons did deserve a home game against Brisbane in the 2nd week last year, but moving to the SFS in the 1st week only would have changed the crowd numbers. They got their game at Jubilee and still lost to the 8th plaed team they beat by 37 the week before. If say, Eels are at home to the bulldogs in the first week of the finals, they can move to the SFS, and if they are at hometo the roosters they can move to ANZ, simple. And if Bulldogs havean advantage at ANZ against a Sydney team with equal amount of fans at the ground, shouldn’t the Grand Final be moved if they get in?
Rob C said | December 3rd 2009 @ 12:04pm | Report comment
I think the McIntyre System should be retained, however I would make one alteration. The week 2 semi finals should be based on home region semies and be allocated based on ranking during the regular season. That way teams finishing 5-8 are nether given an advantage over the teams 1-4 in terms of where games are played in week 2. Why should the Dragons have to play Brisbane at Suncorp in wk 2 when they finished 1st (Broncos 6th) and Titans in Sydney when Parra finished the regular season 8th. Teams 5-8 should feel privileged to be even contesting the semi finals without getting an advantage over the teams that were consistent all year. This is the part that is the biggest joke with the system. I think the average punter would be happy to live with this system if this aspect was changed.
Springs said | December 3rd 2009 @ 2:05pm | Report comment
The McIntyre system will stay until 3rd place are kicked out in the first week.
Andrew Sutherland said | December 7th 2009 @ 12:47pm | Report comment
As I’ve said before, it wasn’t the Mcintyre system that cost the Dragons, it was the long white socks.