Warriors like Mt Smart but capacity a problem

The Warriors say their "preference" is to play any home NRL finals at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland, but want the ground management to guarantee a capacity of over 30,000 for any finals match – leaving the door slightly ajar for a one-off switch to Eden Park.

The more likely outcome is some furious construction work at Mt Smart to ensure a towering temporary stand at the northern end would be ready for a game in 10 days time.

It is NRL management who decide where finals are played, and they guarantee only a "home city" venue for the top-placed club – and have in the past signalled a willingness to move from Mt Smart if they can get a better return elsewhere in Auckland.

Most Sydney clubs have their home finals relocated to the Olympic stadium or the Sydney Football Stadium.

The Warriors say they effectively sold out Mt Smart last Friday night for their final regular-season home game with Brisbane, when a season-best 21,761 turned up. It appears they could have squeezed in more fans had they known capacity was going to be bigger, but they weren't informed until 24 hours before kickoff that the temporary stand – being built for a forthcoming gig by U2 – would be ready to use. It was about half full for the match.

Stadium manager Paul Nesbit said last week that capacity would top 30,000 once the stand was complete.

The Warriors have had a testy relationship with Mt Smart management in recent years over two issues: one being the stadium's fluctuating capacity, with seats being removed for V8 racing in Hamilton, and training access. For two successive summers they were forced to use council fields without goalposts to train on.

They are locked into a long-term contract which could, however, be overcome after the SuperCity merger.

"It's definitely our preference to play at Mt Smart, but we essentially sold out all the seats on the weekend and we need capacity to be increased – with their concert activity, there is the potential for that," said CEO Wayne Scurrah.

"We were turning people away for covered seats all week, we were turning corporates away for two weeks. People weren't asking for the [northern end] because they weren't aware of it being there.

"The agreement for finals matches is between the stadium and the NRL but I know from discussions with the NRL that they are keen to see capacity at its absolute highest because we have always sold out finals in the past. Our preference is to play there, but the NRL collect the revenue for the game and we know from them that they are very keen to see the gate at its maximum."

- © Fairfax NZ News

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