ANZ stadium - the home of footy

[CJK]

Surely there are other ANZ members in RWO. Its the best value ticket in town.

If you are a South Sydney fan

[barry]

I wonder if these developments mean that the ANZ trust have come to some sort of agreement with the Swans hierarchy in regards to a future commitment beyond the current contract to play games there?

I understand that it makes sense financially but it would be a disaster football-wise. We are a significantly better team when playing at the SCG and to compromise our home-ground advantage by playing at ANZ Stadium isn't right.

If this is in fact the case let's all cross our fingers that it won't include any matches in September...

Its this sort of misinformation that Dick Warburton would be proud of.

Our win/loss ratio at ANZ is SIGNIFICANTLY better than any other ground. We may only play there 3 or 4 times a year, but Richmond havent played there since 2002, and if we meet Port in the first final, they have never played there. A massive home ground advantage at the business end of the season.

ANZ is our finals jewel, and the length prepares us much better for away games than the postage stamp SCG. No point being SCG specialists when the granny is always at the MCG.

[barry]

That is simply not true. I've sat at the back at the MCG and in the top tier no where near the back row at the ANZ. It's like comparing watching the footy on your phone in comparison to 40" TV, the MCG seats are way closer to the ground.

I have no love for level 6 either, but I think you are exagerating it a bit.

The stands will still move. The surface will still be rubbish. The area surrounding will still be a wasteland and the atmosphere will be average at the best of times.

A roof will make the atmosphere better than the SCG. Trust me. At present there are pockets of good noise reflection at the ground, which gives you a taste of what is possible if a roof encased all the noise.

[DamY]

I agree with erniekoala

[Captain]

Once the roof is on, the only bad seats will be the level 6 nosebleeds, but that the same as any big stadium, even the MCG.

hahaha brilliant! You obviously have never sat in the red zone!

[GoSouth33]

Our win/loss ratio at ANZ is SIGNIFICANTLY better than any other ground. We may only play there 3 or 4 times a year, but Richmond havent played there since 2002, and if we meet Port in the first final, they have never played there. A massive home ground advantage at the business end of the season.

ANZ is our finals jewel, and the length prepares us much better for away games than the postage stamp SCG. No point being SCG specialists when the granny is always at the MCG.

Couldn't agree more. I always reckoned that playing these different dimensions improved our ability to handle the different configurations within the AFL. It still counts as a home ground advantage for us even if it's not our main ground. Most interstate teams will be disadvantaged going there but we need our members to turn up in good numbers as well to drive home our advantage. We do not have a good record of getting bums on seats in recent years notwithstanding that in the past we've set attendance records at AFL games outside of Victoria.
I quite enjoy going to Homebush to watch footy and have seen my share of Giants games at the Showground this year. I suspect that in the long term, when the Giants become much more competitive and are starting to draw larger crowds themselves, that they will take pressure of us to play AFL games at the Olympic Stadium.

[MightyBloods]

Couldn't agree more. I always reckoned that playing these different dimensions improved our ability to handle the different configurations within the AFL. It still counts as a home ground advantage for us even if it's not our main ground. Most interstate teams will be disadvantaged going there but we need our members to turn up in good numbers as well to drive home our advantage. We do not have a good record of getting bums on seats in recent years notwithstanding that in the past we've set attendance records at AFL games outside of Victoria.
I quite enjoy going to Homebush to watch footy and have seen my share of Giants games at the Showground this year. I suspect that in the long term, when the Giants become much more competitive and are starting to draw larger crowds themselves, that they will take pressure of us to play AFL games at the Olympic Stadium.

People and media continue to underrate the playing field configuration of the SCG. The SCG is one of the AFL grounds that is closest to the MCG playing configuration. Fact!

AFL Ground Sizes

[mcs]

Its this sort of misinformation that Dick Warburton would be proud of.

Our win/loss ratio at ANZ is SIGNIFICANTLY better than any other ground. We may only play there 3 or 4 times a year, but Richmond havent played there since 2002, and if we meet Port in the first final, they have never played there. A massive home ground advantage at the business end of the season.

ANZ is our finals jewel, and the length prepares us much better for away games than the postage stamp SCG. No point being SCG specialists when the granny is always at the MCG.

Care to back that up with some stats Barry? I know our finals record out there is pretty good, but I'd expect our H&A record is no different to the SCG - although as I say, would be happy to be proven wrong with some stats to back it up, not just an ANZ Member's say so. Even the finals record is a misnomer, as really we haven't played a huge number of finals at the SCG overall.

- - - Updated - - -

hahaha brilliant! You obviously have never sat in the red zone!

+1 to this. Red zone seats at SCG vs Red Zone seats at ANZ -> no contest winner is the former, even with the new stand.

For AFL, there are a lot of @@@@ty seats at ANZ. I've said it before, but there is only one good place to sit at that ground, and that's where Barry and his cohort of ANZ lovers sit. The rest of the seats are pretty average at best, especially on the bottom level.

The roof will not fix the awful sight lines at ANZ. I very much doubt it'll improve the turf issues either - although it may help (although having a roof brings a whole bunch of other issues with it.

[mcs]

And finally, a little tip for ANZ members booking this coming Richmond game, you can bring up to 3 kids for free under your membership. Same applies for the 20/20 cricket game in november.

Im surprised its not bring 30 kids free for 20/20 cricket - need something to make the crowd look respectable for a sport even more unsuited to Homebush than AFL

[billyboob]

[Zlatorog]

People and media continue to underrate the playing field configuration of the SCG. The SCG is one of the AFL grounds that is closest to the MCG playing configuration. Fact!

AFL Ground Sizes

Sorry, but the SCG is still the shortest one in the competition hence the bad wrap from the press.

[ernie koala]

Its this sort of misinformation that Dick Warburton would be proud of.
ANZ is our finals jewel, and the length prepares us much better for away games than the postage stamp SCG. No point being SCG specialists when the granny is always at the MCG.

Have a look at the AFL ground sizes, relative to the MCG....

You'll find the SCG is one of the closest in overall dimensions....It's not all about length, it's about the general shape and overall size.....

Which makes the SCG one of the better grounds to play at, when preparing for the MCG.

[Nico]

Which goes to prove one thing; it is not all about length and width but how you use it.

[liz]

Care to back that up with some stats Barry? I know our finals record out there is pretty good, but I'd expect our H&A record is no different to the SCG - although as I say, would be happy to be proven wrong with some stats to back it up, not just an ANZ Member's say so. Even the finals record is a misnomer, as really we haven't played a huge number of finals at the SCG overall.

Beware any stats used to back up that assertion. Our win/loss record in general has been much higher over the period since we first started playing at ANZ than the average win/loss record since the Swans became Sydney (and even before). So a comparison of the total win/loss ratio at the SCG and the win/loss ratio at ANZ will be like comparing apples and oranges.

[Nico]

The Geelong ground is the shape of a sausage.