{"id":137214,"date":"2021-10-01T07:04:41","date_gmt":"2021-10-01T07:04:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=137214"},"modified":"2021-10-01T11:58:43","modified_gmt":"2021-10-01T11:58:43","slug":"bennett-would-prefer-sydney-grand-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=137214","title":{"rendered":"Bennett would 'prefer' Sydney grand final"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett<\/a> says he "would prefer" if the NRL grand final<\/a> was played in Sydney due to the competition's storied history.<\/p>\n

As it stands, the decider between the Panthers and Rabbitohs will go ahead at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium on Sunday despite yesterday's announcement of a capped crowd at 75 per cent capacity due to a COVID-19 outbreak.<\/a><\/p>\n

Since the NRL was formed in 1998, every grand final has been played in Sydney. Brisbane last held a grand final a year earlier in 1997, when Bennett famously led the Broncos to the Super League title in that competition's only season.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Joel Embiid reveals truth in 'disappointing' Ben Simmons saga<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Canterbury Bulldogs set to sign Rabbitohs star<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Weekend<\/p>\n

Asked if Queensland deserves to stage this year's grand final due after saving the competition, which was forced to move north after NSW and Victoria were plunged into lockdown, Bennett gave a somewhat surprising answer, revealing the history of the game is what concerns him most.<\/p>\n

"The history of the game is it's always been played in Sydney," he said.<\/p>\n

"Personally I would prefer the history of the game … it wasn't possible."<\/p>\n

Earlier today, Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk confirmed the state "will go into lockdown"<\/a> should their current COVID-19 outbreak worsen.<\/p>\n

The state recorded just two new local infections today.<\/p>\n

Should a Queensland lockdown occur before Sunday's big game, the NRL will seriously consider postponing the showpiece event, potentially opening the door for it to be moved to Townsville or even back to Sydney.<\/p>\n

\"Cleary<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Ashwin fires back after criticism over IPL incident<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"Everything has its own challenges… players are ready to play," Bennett said of the situation.<\/p>\n

"If we've got to play tomorrow, next week, the week after – they will play.<\/p>\n

"It's something we can't control."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett says he "would prefer" if the NRL grand final was played in Sydney due to the competition's storied history. As it […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137214"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=137214"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137223,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137214\/revisions\/137223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=137214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=137214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=137214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}