Noise concerns across the ditch

The NRL has asked the New Zealand government to seek an exemption from Auckland Council over a noise restriction policy that would prohibit a State of Origin game being played at Eden Park in 2027.

The NRL has been in negotiations with the NZ government about playing the first Origin game on Kiwi soil in a few years’ time, but has put negotiations on hold to sort through a number of key issues.

The NRL, which attracts $3 million to $4 million from different state governments by taking one Origin game to a neutral venue each year, is keen to take a match to Auckland as part of its push into the New Zealand market.

One of the stumbling blocks is a noise restriction policy at Eden Park that limits events to 40-decibel sound readings after 10.30pm.

Given the time difference, the NRL wants to kick off an Auckland State of Origin game at 9.30pm local time to maximise the Australian television audience with a 7.30pm AEST kick-off.

Unlike Accor Stadium at Sydney Olympic Park, Eden Park is surrounded by residential dwellings in close proximity.

It’s why the stringent noise policy at the iconic rugby union venue has been in place since 1993. The only relaxation of noise limits at Eden Park has been for the 2011 Rugby World Cup and the 2015 Cricket World Cup, where slightly higher noise limits (+5dB) were obtained through resource consent applications for those events.

The NRL is seeking a similar exemption but does not have the international audience of the two respective sporting world cups, which were watched by hundreds of millions of people.

A recent change of federal government in New Zealand has brought negotiations to a halt for now, but the NRL is keen on expanding its footprint across the ditch with plans in place to potentially introduce another team on the south island of the country over the next five to 10 years.

Tickets please!

The debutants are often the ones who request the most tickets for their friends and family, however this time it wasn’t the case with the NSW Blues.

It was actually Angus Crichton, celebrating his recall to the NSW side after a two-year absence, who dipped the deepest into his pockets to ensure his friends and family were at Accor Stadium to watch him play.

The 36 tickets he requested highlights just how significant of a moment it was for Crichton, given many people thought his football career, let alone representative career, could have been over after a frightening mental health ordeal 18 months ago.

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Under the rules in the collective bargaining agreement, each player is given six tickets to a game at a venue with a capacity of more than 60,000 (Sydney and Melbourne in 2024), and four tickets to venues with a smaller capacity (Brisbane).

The NSWRL gifted the five debutants – Joseph Suaalii, Haumole Olakau’atu, Zac Lomax, Spencer Leniu and Cameron McInnes – an additional four tickets, taking their tally to 10.

On day one of camp, when they signed their NSWRL contracts, Suaalii, Lomax and Olakau’atu requested a total of 30 tickets.

The cost of the extra tickets is taken out of each players’ $30,000 match payment, as well as any other unforseen expenses during their time in camp.

Playing for keeps

Socceroos goalkeeper Mat Ryan was in the crowd with his friends on Wednesday night, a day after he was invited by the NSWRL to watch the team’s final training session and catch up with Blues coach Michael Maguire.

Ryan, an Eels tragic, has a close relationship with chief executive Dave Trodden, who kindly rejected the keeper’s request to help the state in its hour of need.

“I have reasonably regular text message contact with him,” Trodden said.

“When Nathan Cleary got hurt a few weeks back, I got an early-morning text from Maty. It said: ‘Got my last [club] game in the Netherlands over the weekend. I’ll be back after that. I have played a bit of centre, bit of halfback and I can kick goals’.”

Crichton leads Blues cheer squad at Matildas clash

Staff put both the Matildas and NSW Blues team rooms on the same floor of the Pullman Hotel while they were staying there in the lead-up to their respective matches this week.

The players and staff regularly passed each other in the corridor, however their schedules didn’t line up for a more formal gathering.

All the Blues players ventured to Accor Stadium to watch the Matildas in their 2-0 win over China on Monday, with centre Stephen Crichton among the most vocal of supporters.

Dry spell for Blues

There was a notable difference between this NSW team and that of yesteryear; the amount of alcohol consumed in camp.

Despite being handed complete access to the Fairmont Resort’s very own whiskey bar for the six days they stayed at the hotel in the Blue Mountains, it hardly got a workout.

This NSW team doesn’t have many big drinkers, creating a far more tame and relaxed vibe around camp than previous years.

The other notable change was the distance between players and the media. Previous Origin campaigns have been an open affair with regard to media access, however Maguire – renowned for keeping everything under wraps – tightened things up.

He did so to the point where players were discouraged from conversing with members of the media staying at the team hotel unless they had to.

Maguire scrapped the traditional game-day assistant coach press conference, which has been an Origin mainstay for as long as most can recall. Maroons assistant coach Josh Hannay took part for Queensland.

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Edwards true Blue despite injury

Despite the heartache of being withdrawn from the team due to injury, fullback Dylan Edwards did not want to leave camp.

He stayed in camp with NSW as they made their way back from the Blue Mountains to the Pullman at Sydney Olympic Park on Sunday.

He’s spent every night with the team since, working alongside his replacement, former skipper James Tedesco.

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