19 May 2020

Canberrans may have a long wait for live footy in the capital

| Tim Gavel
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Manuka Oval

Manuka Oval hasn’t been ruled out as a possible venue for GWS Giants games. Photo: Supplied.

League fans will have a long wait until they get to see the Raiders play live, with the Green Machine scheduled to play at Campbelltown Stadium until at least round nine.

All matches are being consolidated into six venues and the games will be played without crowds in Phase 1 of the truncated 2020 NRL season.

The six venues – Bankwest Stadium, Campbelltown Stadium, Central Coast Stadium, Suncorp Stadium, QCB Stadium and AAMI Park – will be used for at least Rounds 3-9 before a review is conducted.

The Raiders will restart the season undefeated, having won their opening two games against the Gold Coast and the Warriors.

The Raiders are scheduled to play the Melbourne Storm in their return to competition on Saturday, 30 May. The following weekend the Raiders are listed as the home team to play Newcastle on Sunday, 7 June.

If Canberra Stadium is used under Phase 2 of the 2020 season, it will be interesting to see how much the ACT Government charges the club for hiring the Stadium. A crowd of 10,000 is seen as break-even for the Raiders and at this stage it’s unknown whether crowds will be able to attend games and how many may be allowed into the stadium.

The NRL has only released the times and dates for the first two games of the revamped season with more to follow.

Forward Luke Bateman won’t be part of the Raiders campaign this season after electing to retire from the NRL and head home to Queensland.

Bateman, who joined the Raiders as a 17-year-old, was an extremely popular player among his teammates, putting his body on the line week-in-week-out.

The GWS Giants also haven’t ruled out the possibility of playing games at Manuka Oval this season but that appears remote at this stage.

GWS is scheduled to play three games in Canberra this year but with only 17 rounds and the AFL playing in hubs the chances of playing in centres such as Canberra appears an unlikely option.

The Brumbies are waiting for the new 10-round Domestic Super Rugby draw to be released involving five Australian teams, including the Western Force.

With the season set to start on 4 July, there’s a possibility that Canberra Stadium will be used as the Brumbies home ground.

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