Queensland’s pitch to steal finals as ‘pathetic’ Sydney fans rinsed
Queenslanders are making a bold pitch to host neutral NRL finals games going forward in a bid to fix dwindling crowds which left the game red-faced last weekend.
The sunshine state was starved of live footy despite having two teams play in the first week of the finals series, with the Dolphins heading to New Zealand and the Cowboys playing in Sydney.
Only 17,000 people showed up to watch the Sharks play the Cowboys. Getty Images
Three of the weekend’s four games were played in Sydney, and none of them went close to selling out.
In particular, the 17,429 people who showed up to Allianz Stadium for Saturday night’s game between the Sharks and Cowboys made for a sorry sight, with the vast majority of the 42,500 seats left empty despite a Sydney-based team playing to keep their season alive.
Friday’s Allianz Stadium game between the Rabbitohs - one of the biggest clubs in Sydney - and Knights pulled little more than 28,000, while Sunday’s game between the Panthers and Roosters - two Sydney teams - attracted about 22,000 to the 30,000-capacity CommBank Stadium in the city’s west.
On the flip side, this week’s semi final at Eden Park in Auckland, where the Warriors will face the Knights, sold out in a matter of minutes on Tuesday and seats about 50,000 people.
While Brisbane’s iconic Suncorp Stadium is one of the best rugby league venues in the country, it will host just one of the nine games across the entire NRL finals series, with the Dolphins earning a home preliminary game next week.
Queensland-based commentator and TV host Peter Psaltis says the NRL should look at putting more finals games in Brisbane even if they don’t feature Queensland-based teams.
“Do we go back to how it was 15 or so years ago, and just set out finals venues (in advance)?” Psaltis posed on Wide World of Sports’ QLDER.
“The NRL to come out and say ‘all right, we’re going to have week two of the finals, one game at Suncorp and one game at Accor (Stadium in Sydney)’, then sort out who’s going where.
“Do we go down that path? Because it wasn’t a good look at the weekend.”
Psaltis says Queensland rugby league fans would turn out in droves for a finals game, even if it involved two teams from interstate.
“The crowd was absolutely pathetic,” he said of the Sharks-Cowboys game.
A packed Suncorp Stadium watches the Dolphins. Getty Images
“I understand about cost of living, and I think the NRL has to understand about cost of living as well. We need to get bums on seats, and obviously we haven’t hit the right price point, so let’s drop the prices.
“I think if any one of the games were played over the weekend... you put that on Suncorp Stadium, there are at least 40,000 people turning up.
“(Queenslanders) will go and see, as neutrals, a really top game of football.
“Neutral fans do not go to football in Sydney, and they proved on the weekend... a few dyed-in-the-wool fans didn’t go.
“If it wasn’t for buses full of Newcastle fans going down the highway on Friday there would have been under 20,000 there (against South Sydney). There were a heap of Knights fans at Allianz Stadium”
QLDER co-host Adam Jackson believes “it shows the appetite for league in Queensland is stronger (than New South Wales)“.
Even Sharks star Nicho Hynes called it “embarrassing” to play in front of so many empty seats on Saturday.
Queensland legend Darius Boyd agrees the Suncorp Stadium scheduling is something the NRL could look into.
“It was not great to watch, you see a lot of empty seats in the stadium,” he said.
“We love our football in Queensland, we always turn out in droves whether the team is going well or they’re really struggling.
“They just want to see their football... definitely something that needs to be looked at.”
Saturday’s semi final will be held at Allianz Stadium again as the Sharks and Roosters play to keep their season alive.
