It may have rankled AFL fans and pundits, but neither coach had any complaints about the quality of ANZ Stadium’s playing surface after Saturday night’s AFL semi-final between Sydney and Carlton.
The Swans advanced to a preliminary final meeting with Fremantle by recording a 24-point win over the Blues, but the sudden-death match was marred by the number of times that players – and even umpires – failed to keep their feet on the slippery surface.
There were pre-game doubts about its condition given the NRL hosted a final at the same venue 24 hours earlier.
That involved rolling out seating closer to the rectangular field and rolling it back to accommodate the AFL oval.
Channel 7 commentator Cameron Ling remarked it wasn’t even “steady to walk on”, while fans took to social media to attack the venue’s suitability for AFL.
“It felt a bit dewy before the game, but apart from that. Well I worry about what I can control,” was Swans coach John Longmire’s blunt response.
Counterpart Mick Malthouse, whose charges seemed more prone to slipping on Saturday, was more disappointed with his players than the patchy turf.
“You’ve just got to be equipped to be mentally prepared and mentally tough enough to play on it,” Malthouse said.
“There’s nothing wrong with that ground.”
“We can’t always be treated with kid gloves, like we have over the last 15,20 years where the grounds have come up unbelievably.
“Unless you put a lid over this, you’re not going to stop that.
“Personally I like the raw state of ground where you have to accommodate different types of surface.”
Surface issues at the Sydney Olympic Park ground are nothing new for the league.
Swans veteran Jude Bolton penned a letter to the players’ association about ANZ Stadium in 2011, noting that sections of the ground were “substandard”.
In 2012, Sydney co-captain Jarrad McVeigh found metal pegs on the turf.
Concerns were also raised earlier this year, when the venue hosted the AFL derby between the Swans and Greater Western Sydney shortly after a mid-week World Cup qualifier and a Good Friday NRL clash.
