SCG final....maybe

[Meg]

Not at present. Every thread seems to develop into a series of posts about ANZ stadium. I wish they could all be lumped under their own thread. It's getting tedious.

Sorry Erica! In fairness though Andrew Ireland did spend some time talking about the ANZ Stadium in his interview.

[Plugger1300]

We only had 57,000 for the pies prelim 2012. What makes anyone think that Hawks or Cats would garner more.
SCG is the preference

[ScottH]

7 April 2013. Geelong defeated North Melbourne at Etihad in pouring rain.

They only close the roof at Etihad for day matches if rain is forecast for the time of the match. It wasn't that day, the roof was open and it poured in the last quarter.

The roof is left open for day matches when it is expected to be fine for the reasons I've set out elsewhere - to provide maximum sun and air circulation for healthy grass. It is closed for all twilight and night matches.

I think they may have changed that policy since then.
They forgot Etihad is in Melbourne that day.

[Mel_C]

7 April 2013. Geelong defeated North Melbourne at Etihad in pouring rain.

They only close the roof at Etihad for day matches if rain is forecast for the time of the match. It wasn't that day, the roof was open and it poured in the last quarter.

The roof is left open for day matches when it is expected to be fine for the reasons I've set out elsewhere - to provide maximum sun and air circulation for healthy grass. It is closed for all twilight and night matches.

I was at the game and was front row sitting near the interchange. It was a hot day with no forecast of rain and after half time it just bucketed down.
North just lost the game...(or you could say choked)...and after the siren Brad Scott was very animated with an AFL official.

There has been debate this year whether the roof at Etihad should be open even on a fine day. The way the ground has been built means the players are looking directly into the sun so they don't want it open. Gillon came out and said that the fans want it open so where possible it will be open. Don't think the players were happy with that!

[Meg]

I think they may have changed that policy since then.
They forgot Etihad is in Melbourne that day.

Statement as recent as 6 August this year:

"Closing Etihad Stadium�s roof for all games, as sought by the AFL�s TV broadcaster, will damage the playing surface, according to the stadium�s boss."

�I think what�s missed in all of this is, as you can see, this is natural grass," he said. "Natural grass needs sunlight, air circulation and rain. It�s not multiple choice, it needs all three.

Close roof and grass will die, says Etihad Stadium chief Paul Sergeant

[barry]

ANZ should insist on a design that the roof can be opened and closed in 5 minutes with people in the stadium at the time. How hard can it be?

- - - Updated - - -

We only had 57,000 for the pies prelim 2012. What makes anyone think that Hawks or Cats would garner more.
SCG is the preference

Crowds are up this year and buddy v hawks could sell out ANZ.. about 70,000

[Plugger1300]

Cats V Hawks prelim had 85,000 last year at the MCG.

Not sure we could get 70,000 even with Buddy.

60-65,000 possibly

Still take the SCG

[Zlatorog]

People, we need to win the QF first before dreaming about the PF. If the players start the game as they did against the Tigers there is a possibility we wouldn't even make it to the PF.

[mcs]

ANZ should insist on a design that the roof can be opened and closed in 5 minutes with people in the stadium at the time. How hard can it be?

- - - Updated - - -

Crowds are up this year and buddy v hawks could sell out ANZ.. about 70,000

Hope your willing to pay plenty of extra $$$ on your stadium membership Barry for such a speedy roof. I believe the fastest roof in the world is on Margaret Court Arena at Melbourne park, which is about 5 minutes, but on an arena a fraction of the size of ANZ. Most are 15-20 minutes minimum to open or close.

Even with buddy, jack all chance of a sell out at ANZ - anything about 55K would be a great result, though 60-65 wouldn't suprise me.

[barry]

Cats V Hawks prelim had 85,000 last year at the MCG.

Not sure we could get 70,000 even with Buddy.

60-65,000 possibly

Still take the SCG

65,000 and SCG does not compute.

[Chilcott]

Paul Sargeant is full of it.

Up until six months ago, I spent 1 or 2 hours each day at Etihad for work and they more often than not have the roof closed during the week.

Even on sunny, windy days.

Also, with the roof opened or closed, very little wind gets to ground level.

Go Swans.

[floppinab]

The interesting part of the statement I believe was the references to the training and administrative facilities becoming tired. The issues with the training and administrative facilities are as follows:

- Office facilities becoming cramped as the organisation expands.
- Lack of multiple outdoor training facilities and outdoor space.
- A Gym that's too small, requiring the group to be split in three to do weight sessions.
- Lack of a major indoor training facility.

It's a major concern in my opinion. There are very few options in the Eastern Suburbs to have a centre of excellence that has everything if you can't get improvement out of Moore Park.

The club can't go West of Canterbury Road to find space as the players would have to drive too far to training. This would frustrate recruits like Franklin and Tippett who enjoy a leisurely 15 minute drive to work from Bondi. This is one of the benefits they signed up for and forcing them to drive over 40 minutes west to work will leave them feeling disillusioned.

What are the options?

Off topic but I'm going to jump in here. I did a tour of the Swans office, rooms and gym at the start of the year and wasn't all that surprised to see how tight it was. The main concern is the lack of office and gym space as A.I. has outlined. I think they are reasonably happy with the Bus Stop Oval (I think they call it that) for summer training (interestingly enough it's dimensions are almost identical to the Olympice Stadium) and of course the SCG in winter.
Hard to see them getting the space to build something of the scale of say what the Bombers have at Tulla in the Entertainment Quarter but they could probably do a decent office and gym space there. Hard to see them getting approval for anything in Centennial Park.

Understand the Inner City appeal Matt but if they want something the scale of the what the Bombers have, out of town is the only option. It seems to work OK for them but conversely it seems that Seaford is not working for the Saints and they are looking at coming back to Morrabin It think? Certainly much closer to the city.

I've seen what the Giants have at Homebush now and with the access to their own oval immediately adjacent to their base, gym, indoor training area, water therapies, it's a lot more extensive than what the Swans have.