mullup
06-03-2006, 11:29 PM
Finals change tabled
Monday, 6 March 2006 @ 2:46 PM
sportal.com.au
A proposal being tabled by a senior NRL official could see Sydney lose the right to host the preliminary finals.
NRL Chief Operating Officer, Graham Annesley, has put forward a proposal to give teams a home advantage in the round leading into the league's grand final.
The move would see clubs in Queensland, Melbourne and New Zealand have the opportunity to fight for a place in the grand final with a decided home crowd advantage.
"One of the things to come out of recent seasons is the need to be less Sydney-centric in our finals," Annesley told The Sunday Telegraph.
"There are some anomalies. One of them is that North Queensland would have to play in Brisbane and that is still a long way for them and their supporters to go."
"Fans of Newcastle, Canberra or St George Illawarra can get in a car and come to Sydney but Cowboys fans wouldn't be able to do that so easily."
North Queensland shot into the final last year with a victory over the Melbourne Storm at Aussie Stadium in Sydney in front of a disappointing crowd.
The NRL and both clubs went tried desperately to get fans to the match, giving away thousands of free tickets, but the atmosphere of such an important, and historic, preliminary final was lost.
Monday, 6 March 2006 @ 2:46 PM
sportal.com.au
A proposal being tabled by a senior NRL official could see Sydney lose the right to host the preliminary finals.
NRL Chief Operating Officer, Graham Annesley, has put forward a proposal to give teams a home advantage in the round leading into the league's grand final.
The move would see clubs in Queensland, Melbourne and New Zealand have the opportunity to fight for a place in the grand final with a decided home crowd advantage.
"One of the things to come out of recent seasons is the need to be less Sydney-centric in our finals," Annesley told The Sunday Telegraph.
"There are some anomalies. One of them is that North Queensland would have to play in Brisbane and that is still a long way for them and their supporters to go."
"Fans of Newcastle, Canberra or St George Illawarra can get in a car and come to Sydney but Cowboys fans wouldn't be able to do that so easily."
North Queensland shot into the final last year with a victory over the Melbourne Storm at Aussie Stadium in Sydney in front of a disappointing crowd.
The NRL and both clubs went tried desperately to get fans to the match, giving away thousands of free tickets, but the atmosphere of such an important, and historic, preliminary final was lost.