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SACA do at Karen Rolton Oval, which is a stone's throw away from Adelaide Oval.
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Adelaide Oval - Discussion
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I'm torn on this. I would love the Shield final to be at AO but if it is Mon-Fri (and that's the only feasible option) then a lot of people won't be able to go anyway.
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In the video above the Premier did mention something about playing times to maximise ability for people to watch. Makes me wonder if they are considering a pink ball game.
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Surely not. It's a red ball competition and they shouldn't be changing the rules for the final.
There have been pink ball shield games for over a decade, including earlier this season.
The final round game in Hobart between Tas and NSW starting on Saturday will be a pink ball match.
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So just drop in the same pitch.
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In 2017, Adelaide Oval got turned around overnight when the first International Rules test was the day after a 4 day tour match.
Surely they can make fitting in the Shield final between matches happen - plus it gives the AFL a bit of leverage should the Crows (or Port) get hosting rights for the AFLW GF to have it played at Adelaide Oval instead of Norwood/Thebby/Alberton.
Surely they can make fitting in the Shield final between matches happen - plus it gives the AFL a bit of leverage should the Crows (or Port) get hosting rights for the AFLW GF to have it played at Adelaide Oval instead of Norwood/Thebby/Alberton.
Millsie69
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Sounds like AFL has won and refusing to give up the oval for cricket.
Can't help but feel that this is a bit of payback for the SACAs being so terrible to deal with over the years.
Can't help but feel that this is a bit of payback for the SACAs being so terrible to deal with over the years.
Its about time the footy got one over cricket.
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It was a little rich considering the Crows / Power / State Govt / AFL basically bailed out the SACA and got them a nice earner and stadium upgrade that never would have happened without footy
The MCG ground manager was interviewed on SEN yesterday about the season opener, but was also asked, as an aside, about the SACA proposal to instal then de-instal a drop in pitch in between AFL games and would be consider that in the future for the MCG. He replied that he would look on with great interest as he thought it would be impossible to do without major problems, and he would reject outright any such request if it was ever made for the MCG.
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The problem with traditional sports is that they are traditional.
Cricket simply cannot expand with dedicated pitches.
It must be flexible.
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Did they say the issue would be the quality of the cricket pitch, the safety of footy players on a quick turnaround, or both?
No - he didn’t go into any detail nor was he pressed to do so - it was just a quick aside from the subject of the interview (being the return of footy to the ‘G), but although it was a brief view without detail, he was emphatic that he didn’t think it feasible.
Hopefully they will put a little more money into Karen Rolton Oval as a result of this and get some proper grass banks surrounding most of the ground, big enough to fit at least 6 or 7k. When I was in NZ last year I went to watch a test match at Bay Oval and it was brilliant!
RussellEbertHandball
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Damian Hough head grounds manager at AO, and as good a head groundsman as you would find in Oz, said it wasn't a problem for his team to do it in the required time.
No one knows turf management better in Oz than Hough and his team. First year of Gather Round, AO didn't have any problem during and after 6 games in 4 days.
And they had practice in November 2017, not moving 1 pitch, but all 8 in 24 hours when they went from a cricket set up to playing the International Rules game there. Only 1 pitch had to be put in for the Shield final. So Hough and his team has proved in can be done. Don't know what the MCG grounds manager is pissing his pants about.
Weak as piss decision by the AFL. But that's what you get when you have a lawyer as the CEO and another one as the Executive GM in charge of Football Operations. Worrying about infinitesimal risk, rather than a can do attitude.
Its why Jimmy Bartel went off at how hopeless the AFL is getting things done last year on 3AW with his - "Get things done! What are you doing there. Seriously!" And plenty agreed with him at the time.
We saw the terrible state of the MCG after the Ed Sheeran concert was held on it.
Yet Adelaide Oval was great for the Port game the weekend after the Ed Sheeran concert at Adelaide Oval. And not a complaint about the surface at all.
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Was surprised to see a cricket pitch still in the middle and the southern end being returfed following a concert.
That seems a very quick turnaround to be ready for round one. Try that at Docklands and there would be a dozen broken ankles by quarter time with the turf patches moving.
That seems a very quick turnaround to be ready for round one. Try that at Docklands and there would be a dozen broken ankles by quarter time with the turf patches moving.
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We dont get any afl action in SA til rd 2 (also known as week 3 of the season)
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Cricket have rights to AO, by legislation, until 11.59:59pm 14th March.
SA play NSW on the 14th March 2026 in a Women's NCL one day game. Port play the first AO home game in Rd 2.
Docklands is on a huge concrete slab for the whole oval, so you can have car parking under it, and for footy you only have 200mm of sand, grass and turf on top of the slab, so similar for cricket, but probably 50m less as you need a tray to put the pitch on and drop it into place.
MCG has a big approx 25m x 30m concrete slab laid down in 2000 I think, and the last few years they have put sand between the slab and the drop in trays with the wickets, after watching what happens at AO and Perth Stadium.
After a poor pitch rating for a test in 2017 or 2018 the MCC employed Matthew Page who was head curator of Perth Stadium and the WACA and he introduced putting sand between the slab and pitch trays. Whilst the MCG have drop in trays, when they take the trays out, they replant the turf and it takes a week or two for the new soil and turf to be ready for footy
AO and Perth Stadium have concrete foundation footings and the trays sit on the footings and there is sand between the footings which means there is a bit more bounce in the pitch rather than when its cement on cement.
For both AO and Perth Stadium they have cricket wicket trays and turf trays, so they can do swapping in and out of trays pretty quickly, a few hours per tray. I suspect at AO at the moment, they might have only 1 or 2, maybe 3 wicket trays in place and not the normal 8 and have already swapped over most of the turf trays ready for the footy season.
That's why in March 2025, SA government wanted to play the SA v Qld Sheffield Shield final inbetween 2 AFL games, because only 1 wicket tray had to be dropped in for 1 turf tray. First game was Port on a Saturday, shield game went Monday to Friday and crows game was Sunday.
I wrote about this MCG v AO v PS in 2 or 3 threads during the cricket season re installing the pitches, with this one on the Port board's cricket thread, linked below, before Christmas, and I put in a couple of videos of MCG and AO pitches going in. There are a couple of videos on youtube of Perth Stadium swapping over their trays.
Ah, forgot Crows were away as well. Even so, a week and a half doesn't seem long enough to properly bed in the areas that need it. The actual swapover takes about an hour apparently, it is the seams of the new turf that can cause issues. But if it beds in that quickly due to local conditions, no harm done.