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I know I am going to come off sounding like a whinging Manly fan here but where is the incentive in coming second? The home finals system obviously favours some teams and those who play at suburban grounds come off second best.
Of the 16 teams in the NRL, only nine get to play their home finals at their usual home ground. For the Dragons, Sea Eagles, Titans, Eels, Tigers, Sharks and Panthers any home finals will be moved to either ANZ, Allianz or Suncorp (in the Titans case).
While in many cases an issue will not arise, there is an obvious flaw in the system and that is evident from this weekend’s fixture.
After a gruelling 26-week competition Manly have managed to secure second position on the ladder. While they would be disappointed at missing the minor premiership, second is no mean feat. They finished above the Rabbitohs and secured a ‘home’ final but all the advantage will go to South Sydney.
Manly had two options for the location for this game. ANZ Stadium, which is their opponent’s home ground, or Allianz, which is the heartland of their opponent’s territory. The crowd on Friday night will be the most hostile home crowd the Manly Warringah team has ever run out in front of.
Penrith have the possibility of hosting a match against either Canterbury or South Sydney later in the finals series and they too would face a similar problem. Manly will cop it again in any matches they host against the Bulldogs or Roosters.
We obviously can’t have the whole finals series played at suburban grounds but surely the way we used to do things could be looked at when unique circumstances arise. Only a few years ago the first week of the finals were played at the host team’s home ground regardless of whether they were suburban or not. The rest of the finals series was then played at the bigger stadiums.
The other flaw in the system comes from Sydney teams playing interstate sides in the first week of the finals. I highly doubt a Manly versus Melbourne or Penrith versus Melbourne match would attract more than 20,000 fans, so why not just let those teams host the finals at their usual venues. We all remember the Manly versus Cowboys game of 2011 that had 14,000 people sitting at a near empty Allianz Stadium. It’s a bad look.
For obvious reasons the final weeks of the season need to be played at the bigger venues, but surely week one can be an exemption as it used to be.
Before people start calling me a Manly fan that doesn’t like to travel to away games, I have been to plenty of matches that aren’t at Brookvale Oval, including Kogarah and Leichhardt this year. I will also be there on Friday night and I encourage all Manly fans to do the same.
Take advantage of the free buses the club is offering from Manly Leagues and make sure you’re there. There is no chance that we are going to outnumber the Rabbitohs fans but let’s at least make it as even a crowd as possible.
Twitter: @louismcintyre
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