Cronulla chief executive Dino Mezzatesta has described the prospect of his club being forced to take a final to Parramatta’s CommBank Stadium as a “terrible idea” as the NRL grapples with scheduling chaos brought on by the Sydney Swans.
The Sharks, who will face a sudden-death elimination final against the Cowboys on Friday night, are expected to have their plea for the match to be played at PointsBet Stadium denied when the NRL decides the week two fixtures on Sunday night.
Mezzatesta and Sharks chairman Steve Mace have asked the NRL if the match could be played at their suburban home – which holds just 14,000 as the adjacent leagues club undergoes a renovation – given they’re playing North Queensland, which will have limited travelling fans.
The NRL is weighing up whether to play the match at Allianz Stadium on the same night the Swans will play in front of a sold-out SCG next door, or shift it further west to CommBank Stadium, away from the Moore Park precinct.
But Mezzatesta described the idea of Cronulla fans being forced to travel to Parramatta as unpalatable as they fight to keep their season alive.
“It’s a terrible idea for us to play at CommBank,” he told this masthead on Sunday morning. “We’ve asked the NRL if the match can be played at PointsBet because it involves a non-Sydney team, but if it can’t, our preference is not to go to CommBank.
The Sharks want to play their semi-final at home after their big loss to the Storm.Credit: Getty
“It’s one of the hardest places in Sydney for our fans to travel to and I would suggest we would have even fewer people at CommBank than if we were asked to play at Allianz.
“We need to think about this strategically and what would be the best outcome for our fans.”
