Surface tension: Roosters stars losing patience with Allianz Stadium pitch

Sydney Roosters players have described the playing surface at Allianz Stadium as “slippery”, “wet”, and “not too crash hot” as the $828 million Moore Park venue prepares to host four rugby league games in just three days as part of the NRL’s Gadhu Gathering.

Less than an hour after the Bulldogs and Manly clashed at the venue on July 27, ground staff were straight to work on the playing surface.

And on Monday morning, giant heat lamps were baking grass at the northern end of the venue. There was also a sprinkler with a heat lamp positioned over a bare patch of grass in the north-western corner.

Giant puddles and divots have become a common feature of NRL games at Allianz, with Venues NSW awaiting the findings of a review into the turf and drainage systems.

The Roosters and Bulldogs meet on Friday night, followed by South Sydney and Parramatta Saturday night, then the Wests Tigers and Manly on Sunday afternoon, including the NRLW as a curtain-raiser.

Tigers CEO Shane Richardson said there were no contingency plans to relocate the Sunday game, and had full confidence the surface would remain safe by the end of the weekend.

Roosters skipper James Tedesco said the surface made life difficult for his side, and said stadium chiefs had to “sort that out”.

“For a first-class, elite stadium like this that hosts a lot of topline clubs in Australia, and around the world, the surface needs to be top class, as the stadium is,” Tedesco said. “They need to sort that out. “Every time we play here, it’s slippery and wet. It’s not the driest conditions.”

Roosters prop Lindsay Collins added: “[On the weekend] my roomie Benaiah [Ioelu] was saying how good the Suncorp Stadium pitch was, and how they don’t play much football on there.

“I was like, ‘They’ve got two league teams, the Wallabies played there the other week, soccer, rugby, Magic Round, and it’s still in good nick’.

“The money they’ll invest to rip it all up, maybe they should have put a roof on.”

Lindsay Collins

“I don’t know. There’s something wrong with this field. It’s not crash hot. You have to deal with it. We were saying they should have put a roof on. I think the original plan was to put a roof on. The money they’ll invest to rip it all up, maybe they should have put a roof on.”

A Venues NSW spokesperson said 150mm of rain had fallen over the weekend, but that the forecast was positive for later in the week.

“Allianz Stadium will have had a 19-day break between events, which has allowed the grounds team to perform the required work in preparation for five games of footy in three days,” the spokesperson said.

“The field has been aerated, additional grass has been seeded, and we’ve had the growing lights and blankets in place at every opportunity to ensure we’re ready to go for an action-packed weekend.”

Gadhu Gathering is the second weekend of Indigenous Round, and the first time six clubs will play across three days at the one venue.

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