Manly looks set to be given the all-clear to host a finals game at Lottoland despite the breakdown in security that marred their recent NRL game with Melbourne.
An altercation between a fan and Storm star Will Chambers, as the centre was leaving the field, sparked concerns over Lottoland’s ability to host a finals game.
While the fan wasn’t charged by police, the NRL integrity unit is yet to finalise its investigation, which could include his banishment from the game.
The incident prompted NRL boss Todd Greenberg to threaten to strip the venue of its finals hosting rights unless improvements were made to security.
However NRL head of football Graham Annesley on Monday confirmed that, as official hirers of finals venues, all responsibilities were on the governing body.
Should the Sea Eagles finish fifth, they will host an elimination final next week.
“We have to see obviously what happens next weekend before we determine which clubs are likely to host in week one of the finals,” Annesley said.
“Brookvale is definitely a possibility.
“But when we get to finals, regardless of the fact that they’re a home final, they’re not controlled by the club. They’re actually controlled by the NRL.
“We’re the hirer of the venue, we’re responsible for everything that happens at that match, which includes security.”
Annesley is adamant the problem wasn’t a failure of infrastructure, which includes a retractable tunnel being used as players head to the dressing sheds.
However it was merely a case of being more stringent with the protocols being tightened for when players leave the field after being sin binned.
“There’s a cage there, as everyone knows, that slides down and effectively cuts the tunnel off, or the gateway off from the general public,” he said.
“Because it was a sin bin and it wasn’t a start of the game, second half, halftime or fulltime, it wasn’t closed entirely.
“But when it comes to a finals game, we’ll be in control of all of those matters and we wouldn’t expect to see a repeat of that.”
Annesley said the integrity unit was still liaising with police over the matter, but suggested the fan would be banned from the game.
“It’s obviously unacceptable. It’s not something we want to see at any of our games,” he said.
“People are fully entitled to go to our games and say and do whatever they want, as long as they stay in a position where they need to be, and don’t go anywhere near any of the players or officials in an aggressive type of way.
“So that’ll be dealt with over the next few days, but I would suggest to you that it might be a while before that particular person is back at another NRL game.”
