“I sacked Craig because he was tired” -Gus Gould as Storm GM

No no no, the Broncos sacked Siebold and hired Walters and look at them now, obviously the answer is just to sack the coach one more time until you find the right one…..

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.

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…

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.

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.

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…

We had some fun, were respectful and moved on…

Well it was “home stadium that is big enough to host a final” as the criteria, which actually includes all of the current teams except Panthers, Sharks, Dragons and Sea Eagles, all of who could still be able to be in the league by moving to larger stadiums like the other Sydney teams have…

What? Rabbitohs and Bulldogs home ground is Accor, one of the Dolphins home grounds is Suncorp, one of the Tigers home grounds is Commbank, all have the capacity to host finals. You really don’t know what you’re talking about…

But this has nothing to do with the Broncos? The Broncos have nothing to do with the situation about Penriths home game. Let’s pretend the prelim finals this weekend were something like Panthers vs Warriors at Accor and Storm vs Roosters or whoever at Aami Park in Melbourne. You’d still be complaining about only one team getting a home final and I’d still be here telling you you’re wrong. I’m not the only one who’s been telling the panthers fans complaining that they are wrong, it’s not all Broncos fans.

Am I QLDer and Broncos supporter? Sure. But is that what I’m doing? Not at all. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy about the home final, but I’m happy about the Panthers home final because what I’m doing is saying that both teams do get a home final, it’s just that our definition on what is a home final is what differs. Sure, the NRL could go to neutral venues for prelims, and if they did I’d only complain if Broncos and Warriors had to to go to Sydney while the Panthers and Storm stayed in Sydney and I’d only be complaining about it because it doesn’t fit my definition of neutral. Now, I don’t think the NRL should do that, they should stick with home finals instead of neutral finals because the crowd is likely to be bigger if it’s played where the fans are and therefore more money on top of a better atmosphere for the game.

I’m not attacking you personally, I can’t, because I don’t know you, I’m commenting on your comments, because that’s all there is. First, I mentioned your “everyone against Penrith” narrative, that’s about your comments, “uppity, pooping up everywhere” etc, also about the nature of your comments. The “sticking fingers in their ears” is again about your comments, because that’s how they come across, “bias la la la” even after I explain how it isn’t. I try to respond to counter what you say (except for when you edit it in after I reply) but you just keep going around in circles, bias la la la. I try to expand and elaborate on my points, you accuse me of twisting, even though they are all related. I don’t expect you to agree with me either, but we are having a discussion, and how someone conducts themselves during that discussion, myself included, also comes under scrutiny…

No, again, there’s no twisting, there’s you not paying attention. My very first reply to you not only mentioned stadium capacity, but also distance travelled by fans to the alternate ground because of location being a factor, it was all there from the start, but you tried to dismiss it as irrelevant. And I added the part about the other stadiums quality to further add to the point I’ve been making, from the start, that the Panthers choose to play in stadium that’s not up to standard as others. And you may have noticed that the thing I was mentioning about those other stadiums was their capacity being larger, again bringing it back to the original point from the start.

At no point have I said you’re not free to comment, but mate, this is the internet. If you’re gonna comment, your comments open yourself up to criticism, just like mine do.

Now you’re just like one of those people who stick fingers in their ears and yell because they can’t handle hearing the truth. Some teams have better stadiums then others, it’s just facts, but do you know why that isn’t unfair or biased?

Every. Team. Chooses. Where. They. Want. To. Play. Any advantages or disadvantages that may come with their stadium choice is 100% the result of their own actions. I’ll also add that every team outside of Sydney that gets to play in their own stadium all have larger capacities than Penrith, so that’s another factor in the decision, their stadiums actually are better.

Are you even paying attention? I’m not twisting anything, I’ve been very clear, it’s a combination of stadium capacity and stadium location.

Once again, it is fair, because every club can get a home final, some of them just have to play it at an alternate home ground. You know why it won’t stop the Cowboys? They don’t have a larger, alternate home ground a few kilometres down the road.

Ahh, see it is about crowds, and because of that, it’s not just about big grounds, it’s about big grounds in the right places. Are there bigger groups than Suncorp, yes, a couple, are they in the right place to get 50,000 Broncos and Warriors fans? No. Moving that game to larger venue in a different state would result in a smaller crowd, not a larger one. Penrith choose to play in a small ground that they know can’t host a prelim, you don’t get to complain about the consequences of your own choices when there were other options. Rabbitohs and Bulldogs have chosen to play in larger stadiums that can host a prelim. Dolphins have chosen to have two home gounds including one that can host a prelim. It’s not favouritism or any kind of unfairness, it’s simple choices and consequences. You can have home games somewhere other than your usual home ground, Penrith aren’t the first or the last to have to do that. Once again, the Gabba became the Broncos home ground temporarily because circumstances forced it to, circumstances are forcing Penrith to Accor. It’s your temporary home ground and whether or not you choose to embrace it, you have to at least accept it. Telling yourself it’s a neutral ground is you just lying to yourself

And you, popping up under every single comment that even mentions Penrith (and even some that don’teven mention Penrith), to somehow twist it into a some sort of attack on Penrith so you can get all uppity about it, is what makes it everyone against Penrith in your eyes.

Why isn’t it a level playing field? I’ll tell you, but you won’t like the answer, because it won’t fit the “everyone against Penrith” narrative that you have dreamed up for yourself. Simply put, the Panthers are disadvantaged only because they choose to be, it’s their own doing. The NRL has standards for stadiums to be able to host certain finals and little suburban stadiums don’t qualify. Some teams like the Rabbitohs and Bulldogs have chosen to move away from their traditional areas into larger stadiums that can accommodate finals, the Dolphins have chosen to split their games between their little suburban ground and larger stadium many kilometres away. Both of those options are available to Penrith (and the Sharks, Dragons, etc) and they chosen not to that, so not being able to play a prelim final at home is a consequence of their own choice. Now you say that because Accor stadium isn’t their home ground, it’s neutral. No it isn’t, because it isn’t an either/or scenario. If they were playing another Sydney team, you may have a point, but a Sydney team playing a Melbourne team in Sydney is not neutral. It might be different, but it isn’t neutral. Broncos played the Roosters and Eels at the Gabba. Despite being a different venue they had never played at, they were still Broncos home games. Panthers fans have to travel a distance similar to the one Dolphins fans have to travel to get to Suncorp for a home game. If it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for you, especially since your club chose this…

Well good thing you don’t have to imagine it. The made up numbers for a hypothetical game at a different stadium just don’t exist in reality, there’d be thousands of empty seats…

You didn’t start a discussion, you tried to get other people to start a discussion by asking vague questions with nothing behind it even though you wouldn’t have asked the question if you didnt already have an opinion. Thats not starting a discussion, that’s just an attempt to cause problems without solutions, starting drama. You obviously think it’s a risk. Is it a risk too far? Well, only if there are other alternatives, if not, it’s a risk worth taking. You think you’re the first person to think of it? You think the thought hasn’t occurred to the people who’s job it is to look after these people? If you can’t think of any solutions, and if you didn’t ask us for any, then you answered your own question before you even asked it.

Do you have any solutions? Do you have anything you can contribute to the discussion? It’s easy to say they need to have a discussion about this, how do you know they haven’t? If you don’t have any solutions, how do you know they don’t either? Maybe they’ve already looked at the risk vs reward and realised that any rules they could bring in to stop it would do more harm to the game than good. Do you penalise a bloke for simply trying to score so that he doesnt try that hard? Something his pay check relies on him to do? Do you penalise the bloke trying to stop a try so that the attacker can run in untouched so he doesn’t have to dive?
If you think there should be a discussion, cool, start the discussion, but at no point in your article or even in the comments do you even come close to providing even the start of a solution…

Oh so now Walters still can’t coach and it’s all this bloke! Haha just kidding, good insight into what’s going on at the club.

“Would you play the grand final at Shark Park?”

Well, it wouldn’t be my first choice, but then again, neither is Allianz….

My mistake, my memory failed me on that Souths game, but my examples do come after that 2016 game, when only 16,000 of those 37,000 turned up to watch them play the Cowboys there the following year. There’s a reason this rule is in place for week one games and not week 2/3…