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NRL finals heading back to suburbs

Sydney's stadium rebuilds have led to the NRL lifting a ban on holding finals at suburban grounds.

Jubilee Stadium
Jubilee Oval could stage a NRL finals game if the Dragons qualify due to a new NRL hosting policy. (AAP)

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Source: AAP


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NRL finals will be played at suburban grounds for the first time since 2010 due to Sydney's stadium rebuilds.

NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg announced on Friday a policy that Sydney finals be played at either Allianz or ANZ Stadiums had been scrapped.

The decision was made with Allianz Stadium having been demolished and a rebuild of ANZ Stadium pending, leaving the competition with a shortage of Sydney venues.

"We're in a slightly different environment in Sydney for our week one finals," Greenberg said.

"It's a pragmatic, sensible solution to what we face in Sydney with stadium design but I think it'll be really well received by fans."

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The news means clubs such as Manly, Cronulla, Penrith and St George Illawarra could host qualifying finals at their local grounds this season if they make the top eight.

Newcastle, Canberra and North Queensland will also be eligible to host preliminary finals under the rethink.

The policy banning clubs from using suburban venues for finals has been in place since 2010 after fans were locked out of a final between Parramatta and the Dragons the year before.

Since the policy's implementation, underwhelming turnouts at both Sydney venues in week one finals has been a black eye for the game with just over 75,000 fans attending last year's four qualifying finals matches.

Greenberg said the policy would be revisited once the rebuilds at Allianz and ANZ are complete.

"When the stadium network comes back online we'll reassess the policy then but we're not talking about 2022-2023 until that time," he said.


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