Optus Stadium has come under fire for its “disgraceful” surface that continues to cause troubles for players, with the venue labelled “not up to AFL standards” by some of the league’s most successful players of the modern era.
Concerns have been elevated for the venue after an alarming number of players from both the Dockers and Gold Coast sides slipped over on Sunday – particularly in the first quarter of the clash.
And now, despite the eye-watering amount of money recently put into the stadium, two AFL champions are unsure where to next for West Australia’s most prominent sporting location.
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Speaking on AFL 360, host Gerard Whateley alongside three-time Richmond premiership player Jack Riewoldt and four-time Hawthorn flag-winner Jordan Lewis discussed the growing worries.
“It is a brilliant stadium which has been failed by its absolute fundamental,” Whateley said after labelling it as disgraceful.
“We’ve had a couple of stinkers there – some have been weather dependant, but it is slippery, and it is hard – and you can see it on TV … you can feel that it is not up to AFL standard,” Riewoldt said.
“It is the most incredible stadium; to stand in the middle of that and have that feel of what it’s about there, and then to go and play on it – it’s a bit of a flat spot, it’s not a great place to play footy.”
Riewoldt played at the stadium seven times for four wins and three losses, most recently in Round 18 last year against West Coast.
“It was by far the hardest surface that I ever played on, by far – it was noticeable in the days post-game, you could still fell the heaviness in your legs,” Lewis continued.
“You’re trying to couple that with the experience of the stadium and what a magnificent stadium it is, but the surface was hard and sub-par.”
While its state may have changed since his last game there in the 2018 preliminary final, Lewis’ criticism of the surface’s hardness is damning.
“Where else are you going to play over there? It’d be a billion-dollar stadium, they need to get it right,” Riewoldt added.
“They can’t spend enough money sorting that out,” Whateley concluded by saying.
Earlier in the day, star West Coast defender Tom Barrass was asked for his take on the surface.
“It’s too hard, so then you soften it up and it gets muddy,” Barrass said.
“It hasn’t worked, and I know that people are working hard behind the scenes to get it going – I’m excited for the day that it’s a nice, pristine, MCG-type deck.
“I don’t know if it is overused in the off-season or just before the season, but it has never, ever been in reasonable nick, so hopefully that will change soon.”
Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir has previously noted that the surface is difficult to prepare for matches at Optus Stadium, and in addition train there before matches.
In May last month, the AFL independently assessed the turf and found that the area was in “good” condition, with other metrics such as presentation, turf coverage, surface hardness and traction all given the green light too.
The Eagles host Hawthorn at Optus Stadium this Sunday evening in the stadium’s next quality test of the surface.