CATS STAND THEIR GROUND
FORGET IT TIGERS, WE ARE NOT LEAVING SIMONDS
THE Cats have ruled out moving their Round 21 home game against Richmond from Simonds Stadium.
It follows reports the August 12 game could be moved to the MCG due to a form revival from both teams in recent weeks.
THE Cats have ruled out moving their Round 21 home game against Richmond from Simonds Stadium.
It follows reports the August 12 game could be moved to the MCG due to a form revival from both teams in recent weeks.
Geelong’s acting chief executive Justin Reeves last night said the match would remain at Simonds Stadium.
“The club and the AFL have not, and do not intend to discuss a venue move,” he said.
His comments came after club president Colin Carter said he was confident Simonds Stadium could cope with the crowd expected for the Saturday afternoon game.
“There’s been no discussions we have initiated on that and (the public) can take it as pretty certain it’s not going to happen,” Mr Carter said. “We’ve had so few games at Simonds Stadium due to the redevelopment it’s the last thing we’d think about.’’ Simonds Stadium home games are typically lucrative for the Cats, with the club reaping about $30 per person, or close to $1 million for a sellout. AFL football operations manager Simon Lethlean had said the game would only be moved following a request from Geelong. “I don’t think this would be a game that would be moved given it’s a Geelong home game” Mr Lethlean told SEN radio. “It’s been fixed with certainty, so it’s not on our radar to be moving it. “If Geelong came to us and said ‘we want to move our home game to another venue that is available’ we’d certainty consider it.” He said suggestions the game would be moved had not come from the AFL or Geelong. Last month, Cats chief executive Brian Cook said the club hoped to play nine or 10 games at Simonds Stadium in 2018. AFL spokesman Patrick Keane said the league had not begun considering permutations for the 2018 fixture.
Kardinia Park Trust chairman Steve Bracks called for all Cats home games to be played at the stadium, following the redevelopment of the Ford Stand and Gary Ablett Terrace, which could be completed for the 2019 season.
Geelong midfielder Patrick Dangerfield said fans deserved to see their club play in Geelong.
“It took eight games for us to finally get a home game, to disadvantage our fans in our home base in Geelong — I can’t see it happening,” Dangerfield said.
He rejected suggestions the move would be a better preparation for finals held at the MCG.
“We get plenty of opportunities to play at the ‘G but we love playing at our home ground; our fans love us playing at our home ground and we’ve got a wonderful new facility that we love playing in and out of,” he told Channel 7’s Talking Footy.
Following the recent redevelopment, Simonds Stadium’s capacity has been lifted to 36,000.
But more than 85,000 fans attended Richmond’s MCG home games against Melbourne and Essendon this year. The past four games between Richmond and Geelong have been at the MCG with an average attendance of 45,224.