OUR GRAND PLAN

Queensland launches fresh raid on NRL decider

THE Queensland Government and Suncorp Stadium will launch a fresh bid to steal Sydney’s NRL grand final following the axing of this weekend’s Magic Round in Brisbane.

Government officials are ready to lobby the NRL for the game’s showpiece event after it was moved to October 25.

The shifting of the grand final from October

4 has thrust a shadow over the NRL’s ability to host the game in Sydney, as it is contractually obliged to do as part of a 25-year agreement with the NSW Government.

With Allianz Stadium demolished and ANZ Stadium set to follow suit from July, the premiership decider was scheduled to be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

But the SCG is slated to host matches for cricket’s T20 World Cup from October 24, ruling it out of contention if the tournament avoids being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The World Cup is in danger of being axed after Prime Minister Scott Morrison declared international travel and mass gatherings would be some of the last restrictions to be lifted, but a decision on the tournament is unlikely to be made for months.

If the World Cup goes ahead that leaves the NRL with only one suitable Sydney venue – the 30,000-seat Bankwest Stadium in Parramatta.

While Bankwest is Australia’s newest stadium, its capacity is nearly half of the 52,000-seat Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane and is dwarfed by Suncorp’s ability to accommodate cashed-up corporates.

If crowds are allowed to attend games by late October the NRL would be robbing more than 20,000 fans of the opportunity to attend its 2020 decider and cost itself millions of dollars in lost revenue.

Suncorp Stadium manager Alan Graham confirmed Queensland was launching a new bid for the grand final.

“Suncorp Stadium is available on the 25th of October and we know pretty much all of the suitable Sydney venues won’t be available,” he said.

Suncorp was to host the second year of the Magic Round concept from tomorrow, where all eight matches of a round are played at one venue.

The shutdown of the NRL season killed Magic Round for 2020 and it will not be part of the new-look 20-round season draw to be released in coming weeks. But that doesn’t mean Queensland will settle for a season without any drawcard.

A government source said they “expect” the NRL to deliver the Sunshine State a major event and will be lobbying the code hard to bring the grand final to Brisbane.

“If an NRL Grand Final is up for grabs, we’d put our hat in the ring,” said tourism minister Kate Jones.