Rumour Optus Stadium surface issues

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WillieNillie

All Australian
Mar 31, 2018
866
2,052
AFL Club
West Coast
West Coast Eagles are very angry about the state of the surface. Not just due to its hardness, but because of the completely inept way they are going about trying to fix the problem. The current solution to fixing the hardness has been to simply water the hell out of the turf. All well and good as it will soften it up but whats happening is in the night games, the moisture is rising to the surface and making the ball wet/hard to handle once the game gets going. After quarter time, it is creating a sense of wet weather football conditions and Eagles forwards are struggling in the conditions. Its very hard to mark the ball when it is like a bar of soap and after quarter time, the ball becomes quite tough to grab

This isnt affecting the day games because moisture stays in the ground til then. Its gotten too a point where Eagles have offered to pay for experts in Europe to come in and re evaluate the turf and create a solution at our own expense (will cost a few hundred k).

The AFL received complaints from two visiting sides so far about the stadium (St Kilda and Port) also due to safety concerns about the turf. Its not just incredibly hard, its also uneven and patchy, hard to run on and recover on too.

Its being played out alot more privately then Marvel Stadiums previous issues but that is mostly because Eagles are not going to spread this out loud in the press like others have. The situation is much much worse then Marvels were and are and it will greatly impact fixturing next season if they cant fix the issues before seasons end (expect a ton of Saturday afternoon games for example for both WA teams)
 

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WillieNillie said:
(expect a ton of Saturday afternoon games for example for both WA teams)
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What happens if there is a home final for one of the Perth teams and they have not been accustomed playing in such conditions because their games have mostly been day games?
 
Got me stuffed how this is an issue. There is so much money in the game, it's the top shelf league, and there isn't ALREADY experts taking care of the grass.
It's grass. It can be managed.
 

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Strange Cat said:
Salt?

The only crying is coming from the eagles about a ground they share with Freo

Haven’t seen Freo share the same concerns
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They dont train there at all and only play during the day for the most part. They have had some complaints but less so then us.

I know though that the biggest complaint and issue came from Port. They were quite up in arms about it

The ground is tested every week and is deemed as well below the thresholds given to them but tests are done during the day. The idea is that at night (when Eagles train and play) is when the surface is becoming hard to play on. Their is some stat that like 18/22 leg injuries on the ground came during the night games or something along those lines so the idea is the grounds only a issue at night
 
Freoforever86 said:
Haven’t heard of Freo complaining. Bit of a whinge by the eagles I reckon. Neck up
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Just are not impacted by it as much as Eagles are due to the night game fixturing really

Its not just the Eagles that are whinging. The other teams are coming here and not happy with it either though.
 
Wouldn't expect it to be resolved anytime soon. The docklands surface is still a disgrace after 20 years! I mean, it's 2019 and we have artificial turf laid around the perimeter of grounds ffs! The players' welfare isn't a priority for afl hq, never has been
 
WillieNillie said:
They dont train there at all and only play during the day for the most part. They have had some complaints but less so then us.

I know though that the biggest complaint and issue came from Port. They were quite up in arms about it

The ground is tested every week and is deemed as well below the thresholds given to them but tests are done during the day. The idea is that at night (when Eagles train and play) is when the surface is becoming hard to play on. Their is some stat that like 18/22 leg injuries on the ground came during the night games or something along those lines so the idea is the grounds only a issue at night
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Ironic that Port complained about it.
It was there best performance for the season that night.
They looked like premiership contenders.
 
Punt Road Feral said:
Ironic that Port complained about it.
It was there best performance for the season that night.
They looked like premiership contenders.
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They pulled up badly. 4 players picked up a leg injury of some sort. Jonas still out with a calf the most notable
 
It was built on a swamp just metres from the river. These potential issues were well known when they selected the site. A lot of time and money went into compaction and drainage, building on such sites can be a tricky balancing act, hopefully they can work it out.
 
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