The sold out sign was posted on the Wests Tigers’ social media accounts at 7pm on Sunday night.
The Grand Old Lady, the Eighth Wonder, the Lilyfield Rectangle or just plain Leichhardt is set to host another golden moment. It is a venue with a rich history of special times for many of us rugby league fans.
Yeah I know that parking is difficult and extremely frustrating, the toilets are putrid – the amenities block at the northern end of the ground would not be out of place in a Dickens novel – and the food options will hardly inspire the next MasterChef.
This is the NRL reaching down to the grassroots and it still has a place with the fans, albeit on only a few occasions throughout the season.
The NRL and the Wests Tigers could not have hoped for a Round 25 encounter more intriguing than this if they had planned it for the last 12 months.
A top-eight berth is on the line for the Wests Tigers and the lads from the Shire. It’s a mathematical chance – yes, the old mathematical possibility – that both teams could be playing finals if they happen to finish with a drawn result and Brisbane go down to the Bulldogs.
That scenario is about as likely as Robbie Farah playing on Sunday. I mean, what specialist is going to tell a player that broke his tibia less than a month ago that he is good to go in one of the toughest contact sports in the world.
(Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
Farah, being the competitor he is, will do everything he can to be there but it appears Michael Maguire may have already moved on, talking up the success of his dummy-half options in the last two matches.
The combination of Benji Marshall in the early stages followed up by an energetic Josh Reynolds at hooker is proving a handful for opposition defences.
The most unlikely occurrence of all is ScoMo turning up and plonking himself in the middle of the Leichhardt hill faithful wearing that scarf. The banter alone would be worth the admission price.
Unfortunately I won’t have Mr Morrison’s option. I will be watching on the small screen some 15,000 kilometres away at seven in the morning.
Despite the early start, I will play out the rituals in my mind that I followed for many years. The pre-game beer in the Orange Grove Hotel, the march down Glover or Mary Street passing the hot dog vendor on the corner of Church Street, in through the dated turnstile block to the inner west’s version of the Theatre of Dreams. The generators will be humming and the smell of deep-fried food will waft around the ground.
The anticipation of making a finals series for the first time since 2011 will have the Leichhardt crowd on edge. The last time they were in this situation they were flogged 52-10 by Canberra in front of 18,634 fans in 2016. They finished ninth that year. It’s a familiar position for the club having finished one place outside finals on five occasions in their short existence.
The Sharks, after being pipped by Canberra on the weekend, will bring a physical approach and a sentiment that they don’t want Robbie’s Leichhardt farewell to be the last match for their own warrior Paul Gallen.
The Tigers, while not possessing the class of the Raiders in their line-up, have been playing with renewed confidence and determination.
The Leichhardt crowd will bring their own intimidation factor as they perch in spitting distance of the sideline.
(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
The ghost of Laurie Nicholls will shadow-box as he makes his way around the ground waving and calling out to anyone and everyone.
The black-and-gold boys from yesteryear will gather near the Keith Barnes Stand and talk about the glory days.
The days of Leichhardt hosting NRL games are numbered. It is a sad but inevitable conclusion that the top level of the game will be played exclusively in modern stadiums.
The Bradford Bulls played their last game at the iconic Odsal Stadium after 85 years of residency last weekend.
When I speak to fellow rugby league tragics around the world about Australia, they point out Leichhardt and Henson Park as grounds on their bucket lists for a pilgrimage. Bankwest and ANZ are similar to the multitude of big sporting venues that have found a place in every major city.
Whatever the final result, it will be a great day out for many reasons. I have a feeling that Big Baz, the Leichhardt Oval scoreboard attendant, might leave the creaky door ajar one last time in case Robbie wants a final beer gazing over what has been his rugby league domain.
At 2pm on Sunday, that well worn saying about South Sydney and rugby league doing well should be substituted for a packed Leichhardt Oval and rugby league.
There is no better sight or feeling. Bring it on.
matth
Roar Guru
Go slow batting in 1999 against the Windies to try and get their net run rate above the Kiwis from memory, but it didn’t work. It was a bit of a controversy at the time
Gauss
Roar Rookie
No you don't, because it never happened.
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
Great story Albo. The 69 GF is legendary. You know I grew up in Brisbane following the BRL but everyone had a Sydney team they followed as well. The Tigers were my Sydney team so I have always had a soft spot for them.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
I've always regarded Josh Reynolds as a hooker , it suits his style much more than the halves where he has no idea how to set up the play for the outside backs. They said his shoulders weren't up to the task years ago but he was going backwards in the halves and something needed to happen. These suburban grounds need to be fully upgraded if they are to remain in use and they certainly make for a much better spectacle on TV than 10 thousand people in a huge stadium. It's crazy to not serve unbelievably good food at these venues as well and make that part of the attraction.
Albo
Roar Rookie
You’re so right jimmmy ! Go Brandy ! Go Roycie ! But I did initially follow the Tigers in the mid 60’s before the Panthers came into the comp in ’67. Even then it took me a decade to fully wean myself off the Balmain Tigers to be a dedicated Panther man. I was at the 1969 Grand final ( Slept outside the gates the night before with a few school mates to get the best seats in the General admission seating – we got the front row of that little stand with the green perspex roof in the south east corner between the old Bob stand and the Hill, that Bob Stand has now moved to North Sydney oval I think ? What a day Papi ! Massive upset that has had you bunnies whinging ever since ! I walked down Forveaux St to Central station to catch the mountains train home with old mate Laurie Nicholls ! What trip home that was ! Another little bit of trivia …. Sid Williams , the only try scorer in the 69 Grand Final worked with my old man after he retired from footy .
Paul
Roar Guru
they've looked very impressive in the past few games, Nat. Fair enough, both teams they knocked off are down on form and confidence, but it still takes a lot of skill and talent to put 40 plus on any NRL team thee days. I think they could hurt a team or two if they make the finals and with a couple more quality players, could really surprise a few pundits in 2020.
matth
Roar Guru
I remember Steve Waugh doing it in a World Cup in England to try and keep NZ out of the finals.
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
Ah, yes. That would have been my 7th guess. Cheers jimmmy. ;-)
Noosa Duck
Roar Rookie
Nat, having lived in Melbourne in the 1960's after getting started on Rugby at primary school, it opened up a brand new world for me. I was only 12 when I arrived but coming back to Sydney at 19 I knew what drove VFL football and that driving force was the fact that they had to fight for survival. Why?? because unlike Rugby League in Sydney they had no Leagues clubs propping up inept footy club management. They had to get fans to take out memberships to keep their clubs going and a suburban ground would have close to 30 000 fans crammed in like sardines to watch the games.... It is doable with NRL if we have the right heads running the game....But do we have that??
Nat
Roar Guru
I reckon WT have been flying under the radar for a while. It's a fair combination of young and experience. Easily the most experience spine in the comp with 800 games.
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
He's a Panthers man Papi. He dreams about Greg Alexander and Roycey every night,
Mike
Guest
Apparently Peter V'Landys is going to take over as Chairman of the NRL commission later this year. He is on record as saying he wants Leichhardt & the other Sydney suburban grounds to get upgrades. He seems passionate about it so I hope he can get Gov'ts to tip the money in as no one else will be able to finance them. I reckon 15k of seating around 2/3's of each ground. Leave the current hills in place but put in new toilets and food and drink amenities. You'd have a capacity of around 20k and combine modern facilities with the old hills still rocking. That's what RL in Sydney should be about!
Pickett
Guest
Wonderful, nostalgic read. The ghost of Laurie Nicholls..he wasn't a Balmain icon, he was a Sydney icon.
Larry1950
Guest
Easily satisfied Stuart but I'd settle for a nice modern stadium as long as they barred all those loudmouth radio guys on the oval before the game & at halftime who try to gee up the crowd and spout on with endless drivel. Just give us the game, leave out the sound effects and let the crowd make the atmosphere. One reason I won't attend many games is they try to make all the peripheral garbage the event instead of the actual contest. It's getting just as bad on tv with seemingly multitudinous teams of talking heads trying to give their two-bobs worth. Oh for the old days of 3 grades (Brisbane) and guys from the finished lower grade sitting on the line for the higher grade team. At least then I saw three games for my money and knew who the up and coming talent was at my club.
Boo-urns
Roar Rookie
Manly could relocate to Redcliffe... that would be just the thing the insufferable manly fans in my (everyone’s?) life would enjoy.
Cugel
Roar Rookie
I went to a packed Leichhardt in 1979, to see the Wests Tigers, except they were two different teams back then :) This was the Larry Corowa days and every time he got the ball, every one would stand up, exciting stuff.
Cugel
Roar Rookie
It is, but if the goal is to make the semis, it's fixing to do the very same thing that you're striving to do all season and your fans demand. BTW, all three of them could miss out, I don't care about any of them.
Rellum
Roar Guru
According to that poll, in a massive shock, Brisbane does want a second team, they don’t want a Sydney club and they prefer Redcliffe.
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
Albo, I got the impression that you were a Broncos fan not a Tigers tragic. I remember one game played between the Rabbitohs and the Tigers at Redfern oval in torrential rain sometime around the late 70's or very early 80's. I went to the game with a close mate, a Balmain supporter, who like me lived in the flats behind the old scoreboard at Redfern oval. We couldn't even tell one team from another and could barely make out the silhouettes of the players on the field. We had no umbrella or raincoats and got completely drenched! Ah, good times! Good times! My happiest memory of Leichhardt Oval was in 1981 when Souths beat the Sharks to win the Amco Cup. I was there and had to go to school the next day. It was packed to the rafters with 23,000 plus in attendance. "I first watched the Balmain Tigers at Leichhardt Oval in the mid 60’s" Then you have followed the game longer than I have Albo. I was born in the mid-sixties! Do you (or anyone else who was around to see the game in the 60's and 70's) remember the finals game at the SCG between the Rabbitohs and the Dragons? The one where the iconic photo of Denis Pittard diving full stretch to tackle Graeme "Changa" Langlands around the legs to save a try? Souths held on to win that game and went on to win the premiership. I have researched it but still can't pinpoint the actual game. I was there and I was about 4 years old and sitting on my uncle's shoulders (a Dragons supporter) when Langlands took the intercept on the Dragon's line and almost ran the full length of the field to score and win the game. Only ONE man turned and gave chase, Denis Pittard! I'm sure that it was at the end of the match and Souths had to hang on and defend their line until the siren went. But what year? Everything I have reseached conflicts with the closeness of the scoreline as I recall. It must have been either 1969 or 1970. Anyone have any idea? # Bring Back the Amco Cup!
E-Meter
Roar Rookie
It does have a lot of charm. We used to play our Balmain district junior grand finals there back in the late 70s, early 80s. Good old Ermington-Rydalmere.