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MICHAEL HAGAN: Why this proud Queenslander thinks NRL grand final should stay in Sydney

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Expert
3rd May, 2022
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There are some traditions that should always remain in rugby league and even though I’m a proud Queenslander, the grand final should stay in Sydney.

In the past couple of weeks there’s been a fair bit said about possibly taking the NRL grand final interstate if certain other stadium funding promises aren’t met and even though I’ve got Maroon blood pumping through my veins, I think there’s something special about Sydney hosting the decider.

It’s a bit like Wembley Stadium in the UK. You know that’s the final destination and there’s a certain amount of satisfaction getting there.

I was lucky enough as a player to be in a couple of grand finals with Canterbury at the Sydney Cricket Ground, where the last game of the season had always been played, and there was a great sense of occasion being on that arena for the pinnacle of the sport.

NRL Grand Final 2017

The Provan Summons Trophy. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

We made it back to the grand final in 1988 in the first year of the Sydney Football Stadium and playing in front of a packed ground of 40,000-plus was a great atmosphere.

In 2001 as coach at Newcastle we played at a Stadium Australia in the first night grand final with 90,000-plus fans and that was also a tremendous experience, not just because we won.

You’ve got to fish where the fish are and the NRL is still predominantly based in NSW and Queensland with the majority of clubs and their fans based in Sydney.

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I think we’re doing enough to grow the footprint beyond the Eastern Seaboard as it is with Origin games in Perth and Adelaide, plus Redcliffe coming into the NRL next year and probably a team in WA down the track. And Auckland will host a Pacific Islands Test again this year between NZ and Tonga.

Tom Trbojevic

Tom Trbojevic (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

We take games to Wagga Wagga, Dubbo, Darwin, Mackay, the Central Coast, the Sunshine Coast, Cairns. It’s like the old song “I’ve Been Everywhere, Man” by Lucky Starr.

Travel is an under-rated factor in how hard it can be in the NRL.

It’s no surprise that the two teams who’ve been at the top of the ladder consistently over the past two years – Melbourne and Penrith – are the best in the business when it comes to away records. Last year the Panthers were 9–3 on the road and the Storm were 10–2 while Souths who made the Grand Final were 10–2 as well.

Under the game’s most experienced coaches they were all able to prepare for every game no matter where it was played with the same unrelenting, professional attitude which made them so successful last year.

Melbourne showed the previous couple of years when they had to relocate to Queensland because of the pandemic that they didn’t skip a beat even when they were based away from home and the Panthers were similar when they had to head north last year too.

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The glamorous world of the NRL is not all ritz and glitz, especially when you’ve spent year after year travelling in a bus from Newcastle to Sydney just about every second week.

I know that when I was coach at the Eels compared to when I was at the Knights, the travel factor was so much easier.

It can be hard for the teams outside of Sydney to remain competitive when they have to travel so far.

For teams like the Warriors (when they are based in Auckland) and the Cowboys, it’s pretty much a two-day exercise when you go on the road every time.

In the modern age of six and sometimes five-day turnarounds, that can be a massive disadvantage and probably explains why since they both came into the competition in 1995 that the Warriors have only made two grand finals (2002 and 2011) and the Cowboys three (2005, the 2015 premiership and 2017).

We saw on the weekend how it can affect even the top teams. Parramatta went from a game in Sydney on Easter Monday against the Tigers which they lost to a big win in Newcastle on the following Sunday.

DARWIN, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 30: Coen Hess of the Cowboys looks to pass as he is tackled during the round eight NRL match between the Parramatta Eels and the North Queensland Cowboys at TIO Stadium, on April 30, 2022, in Darwin, Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

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Then they had a six-day turnaround to go up to Darwin as part of their deal with the Northern Territory Government to play a game there every year and they got beaten comprehensively by the Cowboys. Deep down I am sure their coach Brad Arthur would much prefer to have played this game at CommBank Stadium at Parra despite the financial windfall the Eels receive each year.

Playing the game in the tropics would have been an enormous advantage to North Queensland because they are used to training and playing in those conditions and holding onto the ball when it’s so humid.

One aspect of the modern game with all these new stadiums around the NRL map is that once you get to a ground, the disadvantages aren’t as bad as they used to be.

The playing surface at pretty much every venue now is top class.

Going back a generation to when I was a player, you’d get so many different standards at the various grounds, hard ovals like at North Sydney that had a cricket pitch in the middle.

Visiting teams at a lot of venues would not get the lukewarm showers in the sheds, if there was any hot water at all. 

And there was a parochial nature at all the grounds – I remember being sledged by the fans as you ran through the players race at Redfern Oval by diehard Rabbitohs fans.

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It’s a much more neutral environment so it doesn’t bother teams that much when they rock up to these new stadiums and you could sleep in the dressing rooms they’re that comfortable.

If you want to be in the top eight at the end of the year you have to find a way to win close to half your games on the road.

And with Magic Round next week and teams taking a game or two to regional locations like the Roosters are doing with their game against the Titans being in Cairns this weekend, it means both more travel for clubs these days but also adds there being more of a neutral flavour in the draw.

It’s great that the competition is doing this and spreading the rugby league gospel but it can be done without moving the grand final from Sydney. Some things should stay the same.

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