The Wests Entertainment Group has begun preliminary discussions with Wests Tigers for the club to return to Tamworth after two aborted attempts to play matches there due to COVID, WEG chief executive Rod Laing has revealed.
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The news comes as Laing pondered what might have been had it not been for the pandemic: the Tigers and the Sharks meeting at Scully Park on Saturday.
He also pondered what might have been had Tigers CEO Justin Pascoe opted to "go early" with the match in 2021.
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The game would have gone ahead, unaffected by Sydney's surge in COVID cases that resulted in the NRL circus relocating to Queensland, and Tamworth losing an NRL match for the second straight season due to the pandemic.
The Tigers-Raiders clash was moved from Tamworth in 2020.
"It was Justin's decision to go late," Laing said of the Tigers CEO opting to stage the Sharks clash in August, "because he was certainly aware of vaccines being rolled out.
"He said, 'Look, COVID will be a thing of the past. So let's go late in the season. And that way we'll have greater numbers at the game, etc'. So that backfired on us.
"If we'd gone early like the other regions, we would have had a game done and dusted for Tamworth. So, yeah, luck wasn't on our side."
The surge in COVID cases in Sydney resulted in 12 NRL clubs, including Wests Tigers and Cronulla, relocating to south-east Queensland.
Laing said "it was good to hear" that the Tigers were still keen to meet Cronulla in Tamworth, before the contest was cancelled early this month.
"Even if there were restrictions at our game that may have prevented capacity, they [the Tigers] were still keen to come back and re-engage with the community and the schools," he said.
He added: "Then, of course, they had to relocate to Queensland.
"And although those borders remained open for a while, they [Wests Tigers] were still, right at that point in time, pretty keen to get back into Tamworth and connect with the community. So that's a good sign."
Laing said WEG was in the process of finalising ticket refunds for Saturday's abandoned encounter.
The match will be played at Browne Park, in Rockhampton, this afternoon.
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Mark Bode
I’m passionate about writing stories that resonate with people. And I’m genuinely interested in the people I interview; I want to know about them and present their stories in a meaningful way.
I’m passionate about writing stories that resonate with people. And I’m genuinely interested in the people I interview; I want to know about them and present their stories in a meaningful way.
