New Zealand Warriors and Wests Tigers are far more integral to the 2022 wooden spoon equation than the Top 8 picture, but Sunday’s showdown promises to be one of the NRL’s most emotional matches in recent memory.
Jettisoned in Australia for more than two and a half seasons by COVID, the Warriors end a 1,038-day Mt Smart Stadium hiatus this week – and it’s a sell-out as footy-starved fans ignore their club’s on- and off-field struggles to give the team a 25,000-strong embrace in what shapes as an electrifying occasion.
As the Warriors gear up to return their spiritual stronghold, we’re revisiting the premiership’s most memorable homecomings and rebirths.
Pratten Park (1985)
Pratten Park in Ashfield was Western Suburbs’ home base for 48 seasons before the club made a permanent switch 10 kilometres further west to Lidcombe Oval in 1968. The club made intermittent appearances at their former home during the 1970s but returned for cameo after an eight-year absence in 1985.
The battling Magpies – who had to take the NSWRL to court just to remain in the competition after being axed at the end of 1983 – had won just one of their opening eight games in ’85, but the Pratten Park backdrop provided the inspiration for a 24-16 win over South Sydney in Round 10.
Wests stalwarts Trevor Cogger and Allan Fallah were among the tryscorers as the Magpies powered home in the second half in front of 5,391 fans. The club took another two late-season games to Pratten Park – the last time the quaint ground was used as a first-grade venue.
Magpie #767 Trevor Cogger
— Wests Magpies (@westsmagpies) October 12, 2021pic.twitter.com/ScxfolCukL
Parramatta Stadium (1986)
Overzealous Parramatta supporters torched the Cumberland Oval grandstand amid wild celebrations following the club’s long-awaited first grand final triumph in 1981 – leaving the Eels to play out of Belmore Oval for four seasons.
But the blue-and-golds’ 1986 homecoming to Parramatta Stadium, which was constructed on the old Cumberland Oval site, was one of the greatest days in their history.
A 26,870-strong crowd included guest of honour Queen Elizabeth II, while the Eels demolished the previous year’s minor premiers St George 36-6 in one of the most dominant team performances of the decade.
Workhorse forward Steve Sharp scored the first try at the sparkling new venue, Ray Price and Brett Kenny scored memorable four-pointers for the eventual premiers, and Peter Sterling earned a rare ‘10’ rating from Rugby League Week magazine.
Kogarah Oval (1989)
St George had called Kogarah Oval home since 1950, but the club was forced to find provisional new digs in 1986 due to the construction of a new grandstand. The Dragons opted for the Sydney Cricket Ground, but the move backfired with poor attendances at the spacious venue as the 1985 grand finalists missed the playoffs in 1986-87.
Relocating to Canterbury-Bankstown’s Belmore Oval for 1988 garnered just three wins without boosting their crowd averages (they also played one home game at neighbouring Cronulla’s Caltex Field).
St George returned to the refurbished Kogarah Oval in 1989, attracting 15,000-plus turnouts in their first two home games. The Roosters thwarted the Dragons’ Round 2 homecoming with a 14-13 result, but the Saints atoned three weeks later when a late try to hooker Trevor Bailey gave them a thrilling 23-22 victory at Kogarah.
Sydney Cricket Ground (1993)
Premiership rugby league was first played at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1913 and became the code’s home, hosting every grand final from 1952-1987 and every major Test and interstate match in Sydney for decades. But the game made a wholesale shift to its newly constructed Sydney Football Stadium headquarters in 1988.
The competition belatedly returned to the SCG in 1993 for a one-off clash between carefully selected archrivals Balmain and South Sydney, who played out one of the most famous of all grand finals at the ground 24 years earlier.
A bumper crowd of 24,732 took a trip down memory lane and saw Tigers replacement half Brian Smith slot a 77th-minute field goal to decide a cracking encounter 19-18.
The SCG was utilised by the NRL sporadically until becoming Sydney Roosters’ temporary base from 2019 following the demolition of the SFS.
Redfern Oval (1996)
Mighty South Sydney called Redfern Oval home from 1948-87, before throwing its lot in with the Sydney Football Stadium in 1988 – to the chagrin of plenty of diehard Rabbitohs supporters.
Falling on hard times in the 1990s, Souths made a nostalgic return to Redfern after a nine-year absence in 1996 as the code trudged through the Super League war.
The homecoming didn’t exactly get the turnstiles clicking with only 4,015 fans turning out for the early-season fixture, which fellow battlers Gold Coast Chargers won 18-16. Happily, the Rabbitohs took two more games to Redfern Oval later in ’96 and came away with victories over Western Reds and South Queensland Crushers.
Souths have played ‘Return to Redfern’ pre-season matches intermittently since 2009 and it remains the club’s primary training headquarters.
Redfern Oval right now (it’s within my 5km limit). Win or lose on Sunday I want to be here when the rules are relaxed and we can finally get together to thank our players for their tremendous efforts during season. Please make it happen @SSFCRABBITOHS!
— Rabbitoh Warren (@Rabbitohs) October 1, 2021#GoRabbitohs pic.twitter.com/087Xst8YSK
Leichhardt Oval (1997)
Ailing Balmain’s bid to project a more cosmopolitan appeal saw the club adopt the name Sydney Tigers and play its home games at Parramatta Stadium in 1995-96. While the Super League war rendered any inroads made by the strategy hard to gauge, it was not deemed success.
The foundation club reverted to Balmain Tigers in 1997 and 18,247 fans filled up Leichhardt Oval for the Round 1 homecoming against defending premiers Manly.
The Tigers fought admirably and led midway through the second half after tries to Darren Senter and Tim Brasher, spurred on by the baying Balmain fans. But a Jim Serdaris try spoiled the party as the Sea Eagles got away with a 14-10 win.
Suncorp Stadium (2003)
The Broncos returned to the old Lang Park site in inner-city Brisbane after a decade of playing out of the cavernous QEII Stadium on the south side of town, and the remodelled, state-of-the-art Suncorp Stadium quickly gained a reputation as the best venue in world rugby league.
But the Knights spoiled the Broncos’ homecoming party, carving out a 32-22 upset in an engrossing encounter with 46,337 in attendance (just 6,000 short of its new capacity). Wingers Timana Tahu and Anthony Quinn each collected doubles and captain Andrew Johns was in typically irrepressible form.
Belmore Oval (2015)
Economics was behind Canterbury-Bankstown’s decision to abandon Belmore Oval – its home for 63 seasons – in favour of the gigantic Stadium Australia in 1999.
As part of the club’s 80th anniversary celebrations in 2015, the Bulldogs returned to Belmore Oval and 16,764 teary-eyed fans cheered on a 20-4 victory over Melbourne Storm.
‘Back to Belmore’ matches have been a regular feature of Bulldogs campaigns since but have garnered just one win in nine subsequent outings – including a 34-24 defeat to the Dragons in Round 12 this year, the venue’s first NRL match in three years.
Western Sydney Stadium (2019)
Long-suffering Parramatta enjoyed one of the finest occasions in its modern history on Easter Monday, marking the unveiling of the spectacular Bankwest Stadium (now Commbank Stadium) in Western Sydney with a 51-6 demolition of Wests Tigers.
After playing out of the soulless ANZ Stadium for more than two years, the Eels racked up their biggest win in 12 years in front of a rabid throng of 29,047 fans. Mitchell Moses, Clint Gutherson, Michael Jennings and Shaun Lane ran riot as co-tenants the Tigers struggled to stem the blue-and-gold torrent of long-range tries.
Built on the site of the demolished Parramatta Stadium, the plush venue has provided the Eels with 27 wins in 36 matches.
Shark Park (2022)
Cronulla played out of Jubilee Oval in Kogarah in 2020-21 as its ground underwent refurbishments. The Sharks made a rousing return to the venue they have called home since 1968 in Round 2 this year.
The capacity is limited to 12,000 in 2022 and every ticket was snapped up to see a thriller between Cronulla and high-fliers Parramatta.
Cronulla back-rower Teig Wilton crashed over for a last-minute equaliser and marquee recruit Nicho Hynes iced a memorable occasion with the match-winning conversion after the siren, sending the Sharks faithful into meltdown.
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