Maroons up the ante with grand final push

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2019 themercury.com.au SUBSCRIPTIONS 1300 696 397 QUEENSLAND Origin stars turned up the heat as senior Queensland Government ministers met last night to hatch a plan to bring next year’s NRL grand final to Brisbane.

Maroons duo Will Chambers and Ben Hunt — who have both played grand finals at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium — yesterday led a push for ARL chairman Peter Beattie and NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg to play the decider at the home of Queensland rugby league, Suncorp Stadium. STATE OF ORIGIN II has a major facelift. The SCG will not only host the 2020 NRL grand final, but could also snare the 2021 decider.

A newly built Allianz Stadium at Sydney’s Moore Park will be considered for the 2022 NRL grand final before the completion of the new 70,000seat ANZ Stadium in 2023.

The Queensland Government labelled the Suncorp snub a “disgrace” and Chambers yesterday implored Beattie to reward fans by bringing the NRL grand final to the Sunshine State.

“I’d love to be involved in a grand final at Suncorp Stadium,” said Chambers, who played for Melbourne in last year’s decider against the Roosters at Homebush.

“Obviously Suncorp doesn’t hold the crowd numbers that you would get at Homebush, we won’t see 80,000 like we get at ANZ Stadium, but if that ground is out of action, Suncorp is the next place to go.

“With Suncorp, people will travel to go to the game. For me, nothing beats the atmosphere of Origin nights at Suncorp and if you had a grand final, it would be amazing.

“Actually, the grand final would be so good at Suncorp that people wouldn’t want to go back to ANZ.”

Chambers said the SCG, which has 6000 fewer seats than Suncorp with its 46,000capacity, is an inferior rugby league ground to Suncorp because of its wider dimensions.

“From a player’s perspective, the SCG is not the best place, it’s not a football ground,” he said. “Suncorp is the best stadium in Australia, everyone loves it, everyone knows it’s the best ground in rugby league.”