NRL Prelim Finals midweek talking points: Why do clubs keep thinking so small with stadium stupidity?

This is what you recently accused me of doing, replying to my comment just to attack me, because if you were serious about debate and discussion, you would have followed along with what was being said and not be, once again, completely wrong. No wonder I think it's a good idea? It's not my idea. Rellum brought up the idea of the NRL not letting teams with inadequately sized stadiums stay in the league, all I did was highlight which exact teams would be affected and what they could do about it, not that I want it to happen. You should know that already, you're the one who keeps bringing up the article I wrote. Surely you remember the part where I quite clearly state that forcing all the teams into the same few stadiums like the AFL is not what I want to happen? That'd I'd rather their suburban grounds be upgraded to be better? Even now, the thing I've been arguing with you about for days now, if teams want to stay in their suburban ground, it's fine with me, they just need to accept that they can't play certain finals matches there as a consequence.

Except that’s a ridiculous & impractical idea. No wonder you think it’s a good idea. The 3 stadiums for all Sydney Clubs…Wont the ground surfaces just stay in wonderful condition. The traffic getting in & out of there from one game to the next , would be murder. Not to mention how the hell will the public transport cope? That’s if most supporters don’t just give up the idea of going to those grounds altogether? So , probably great for crowd numbers too? I think Cronulla is spending a motza around their actual Home Ground now. Don’t worry Cronulla, just toss all of that away & travel up to Allianz to play a lot of your games. How about the new stand & centre of excellence at Manly? Not a worry Manly! Abandon it all & bus off to Sydney or Parramatta, or Homebush for all your ‘Supposed’ home games? Penrith, best crowd & member numbers ever in a growing area . You ‘lease’ your ground & the owners have an obligation to bring it up to date . Make it fit for purpose, with whatever that brings with it. Don’t worry that everything that is the Panthers, is in the area around the BlueBet Stadium. You know, Parramatta would be fantastic!? Don’t worry everyone! Forget your community , forget actual Home Games , forget what each club & area is all about! Surely no clubs that would be forced to travel to some other area & their supporters would mind a bit! West’s supporters just love it now, don’t they? Brendon just knows what’s best for all clubs in Sydney! That’s what he’s telling us , from Brisbane. :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

Look who’s back, the person who doesn’t know what a hypocrite is or able to grasp the concept of home grounds. It appears to be you that seems to see things only in black and white. You’re the one with the black and white opinion that where a club started is their only home ground and always will be, when the reality that I’m talking about is more complex, has more shades to it. Let’s compare it to our homes. For people, we’ve got childhood homes, adult homes, people that own multiple homes, holiday homes, even retirement homes. It’s the same for clubs. We’ve got the homes where they started, homes where they might have had to relocate to during a pandemic, homes where they are now because they’ve outgrown their childhood homes. I’d love to buy my childhood home, maybe even move back there, at least spend some time there, obviously some clubs would love to do that too, but it changes nothing about their current home until they do. I don’t think you’re an everyday punter, they have a better grasp of these things…

You keep calling these stadiums these two clubs ‘Home’ grounds. The stadium at Robina, is listed under South Sydney. Is Robina, Queensland ‘South’s Sydney’s Home’? First time I’ve heard of it being called ‘South’s’ home, if it is? In fact Robina is no more the ‘Home’ of South Sydney , than Homebush. They play games at Homebush & Robina. Neither is the ‘Home’ of South Sydney. Their only ‘True’ home is the area where they started & the area where their new training facilities are located. Just as the only true ‘Home’ of the Bulldogs is at & around Belmore. Where they started , still play & want their actual ‘Home’ Stadium rebuilt. They may play games at Homebush, as you say. It’s not their ‘Home’ ! Yet you’re also free to call them whatever you like ? I guess everything to you is black & white? I live in the world of colours too. Few things in life are just ‘black & white’. Other than the fact that you’d already shown yourself to be a hypocrite ? It’s a long way down from the tower , where the supercilious dwell Brendon. We welcome you down here , to where us everyday punters dwell. :thumbup: :laughing:

The only part of your comment I disagree with is were you say "Because other clubs sell their soul for the almighty dollar and move to larger stadiums and desert their communities doesn’t make it right" and only because I don't think its right or wrong, it just is what it is, clubs making what they think is the decision in the best interest of their club. I got no problem with any club moving or staying put. For the Panthers, the consequences of staying put means the prelim final has to be somewhere else this week. And if you don't have a problem with it, if only others were as on board with it as you. I agree with the "anytime anywhere" approach to where the games are, but I will push back against people that insist the Broncos playing their game in Sydney would be the same kind of 'neutral ground' as where the Panthers have to play, it's just not the same. Not that you're one of those people, that's just what I've been dealing with. I'll be honest with you, I also hope the Panthers dont move, I really hope that ground gets an upgrade.

Maybe Brendon some clubs place more importance on community rather than where you play your finals. I should qualify my comments by saying I am a born and bred panthers’ boy who is now classed as a senior and I couldn’t give a rats where the broncos play their finals. To win the comp you have to beat everybody anywhere so that doesn’t bother me.I can remember the old Penrith park where you could climb the fence to get in. Penrith play their home games at Penrith because that is the community they represent. Because other clubs sell their soul for the almighty dollar and move to larger stadiums and desert their communities doesn’t make it right. I don’t have a problem with playing at Homebush this week, but our home ground is at Penrith and that will never be any different

Pretty sure it won't be Klein! :happy:

Couldn’t agree more with that - especially your last paragraph

I thought the newish rule was unless it is a reportable offence the bunker can’t intervene. Walker caught Grant high with something less than full force. I’m happy for the ref to make the decision of no penalty on the run especially when Grant clearly just layed down expecting the penalty. I accept that sometimes during the regular season such a tackle would be a penalty. Suggestions that it was worth 10 minutes are off the mark. I have some difficulties reconciling my view that rep games and finals shouldn’t be decided by a soft penalty in the last few minutes as against what I believe is a pretty soft approach by the NRL towards concussion.

Change my story? Not once! There's no story! There's you being wrong and me correcting you on it. There's you going off on irrelevant tangents that are also wrong, and me bringing it back to the matter at hand. This has nothing to do with what club I support, not once were they mentioned in your comment or mine. It's you being wrong and not being able handle it, at least I admitted I was wrong about something, but it doesn't change or contradict my facts, it adds to them. Bulldogs having two home grounds instead of one doesn't change the fact that Accor stadium is one of them. My views from 2017 aren't relevant, because we're talking about facts. Facts you can't comprehend. Home stadiums. Souths training ground isn't their home ground. They don't play games there, that's what a home stadium is.

You change your story now. As you didn’t even know that the Bulldogs still used Belmore. Their home ground! FACT!!! :laughing: South’s new training ground ,Located in Maroubra’s Heffron Park . At home for South’s. At least it’s their area. Funnily, no thoughts of building it at Homebush. Homebush, just the stadium they use, never home. From your views on suburban stadiums from 2017, you were always going to comment the way you are now. From your views , every club in Sydney ( other than a few lucky ones such as Parramatta ), should just pick up & play at 3 larger stadiums. What a load of old tripe. Lucky that the government built the Broncos a new stadium. You accused me of being uppity & jumping around to stories . To make it all about Penrith, or jumping to the defence of Penrith . In your tirade…Yet you only jumped in on the other story , as my comment was concerning the ‘Club You Support’ ! You poor sad old pot, calling this kettle black . Only reason you replied to my comment today. Is that I called you on it. Have a nice evening!

I reckon if that tackle happened the other side of halfway it would have been penalised. It's not only the timing, but the location, that came into it.

I was listening to something this week that went through his missed tackles. His missed tackles this year are the highest of his career. Even last week against the Roosters he missed 6 or 7 and they said something like 50 since Origin ended I get the feeling he’s on one leg too… still came up with the clutch play when needed though

I’ll correct myself because my comment was slightly inaccurate, Accor isn’t the Bulldogs only home, they also play at Belmore, but still, your comment is a load of irrelevant nonsense. I didnt say anything about spiritual homes, where teams wish they were playing, etc. All I said were the cold hard facts, that those grounds are current home venues of those teams. There’s no disputing, it’s not a difference of opinion, those are facts. I’m sure the Bulldogs would love Belmore rebuilt, if they did, they’d probably want it rebuilt at a capacity that could host finals. But until that happens, Accor is one of their homes and it can host finals. Souths home is Allianz? Well if that were true, Allianz can also host finals, so you were wrong about Souths not having a large enough venue. If you’re saying Souths home ground is in Redfern, you’d be wrong about that for one, massive, important reason. There’s no stadium there! Can’t have a home ground if there’s no ground! Does sharing a stadium in some other area make it your home stadium? Yes! Because that’s what a home stadium is, where you play your games! That’s not a matter of opinion, that’s fact. Whether or not it’s the best place to be playing, that would be opinion, but thats not the matter we’re discussing, which is where teams currently play their home games, not where they’d like to play their home games. So Penrith are selling out games now, huh? Good for them. They might wanna consider moving to larger stadium. Food for thought…

That’s why the Bulldogs were complaining big time, when there was any mention of money being spent to revamp the stadium Penrith plays at. As the spiritual home of the Bulldogs is Accor . Wait a minute, they wanted Belmore rebuilt! :laughing: South’s actual home according to many including GB, is Allianz . As it’s in their heartland , which is now the home of the Roosters. Who took it over. (However their real home was & will always be Redfern.) Does sharing some Stadium in some area that’s really nothing much to do with your club , make it your home stadium? Matter of opinion I guess? It certainly doesn’t according to the Bulldogs, supporters or hierarchy. Oh but that’s right . You’re also not a fan of the local suburban grounds ( stadiums) at all , as per your 2017 insight . Which included not surprisingly a go at Penrith & the crowds they got there . Including a game against the Bulldogs. You’ll be happy to know that the game against the Bulldogs in 2023, BlueBet Stadium was a sellout. Just as it’s been for many games in 2023. Then according to those who actually know in the media, the first ever Thursday night sold out game. Food for thought there Brendon. :thumbup:

Wait … was that the same one 3 times??!! :shocked: No wonder it was p.ssed I didn’t remember it’s name.

We had some fun, were respectful and moved on...

Well, three-night stand, you degenerate hussies! :silly:

Pfft. One night stand. It meant nothing to us.

They had two homes this year, though.