Tigers take on Indigenous All-Stars Friday Feb 4 in Alice Springs - CANCELLED

[Penelope]

Nup. the next ground in the pecking order does not have adequate facilities of lights according to Helix.

[Smokey]

Is there anywhere else in Darwin they could play?

Not to cope with the crowd MT.  All very very suburban type (numbers-wise) grounds except for Marrara.  None would hold 10k that I'm aware of - Al would be able to shed more light.

[mightytiges]

Is there anywhere else in Darwin they could play?

Not to cope with the crowd MT.  All very very suburban type (numbers-wise) grounds except for Marrara.  None would hold 10k that I'm aware of - Al would be able to shed more light.

Nup. the next ground in the pecking order does not have adequate facilities of lights according to Helix.

Ta guys. So it really is down to praying it doesn't rain anymore  .

Etihad's surface was in fairly decent nick tonight out of interest given there was a concert held there on NYE. A couple of areas at the southern end have chunks out them near what would be the Aussie Rules boundary but nothing that couldn't be repaired in a couple of weeks. May end up an option if Marrara fails to come up.

On another topic - hopefully the game is used to pay tribute to Maurice Rioli in some way.

[Penelope]

It's raining MT. The ground is just waterlogged at the moment. we'd be lucky to be getting breaks of 2-3 hours before more rain hits. If this keeps up they will struggle to get the ground right.

oh forgot. they are bringing up a super sopper from adelaide.

Smokey's pretty much spot on about the grounds.

Normally love the sound of rain on the roof, but it can stuff off for a while

[WA Tiger]

Does anyone know if I can watch the game later on youtube or anyware other than bigpond, being here its going to be difficult to see it. I am hoping that DSTV wil replay it but....I dont think so.

[one-eyed]

All-Stars clash in doubt
afl.com.au
By Luke Holmesby
4:30 PM Mon 24 Jan, 2011



THIRTEEN consecutive days of monsoonal rain in Darwin has cast doubt over next month’s clash between the Aboriginal All-Stars and Richmond, as the surface at TIO Stadium becomes dangerously soaked.

The Tigers were set to take on an Indigenous All-Star side on February 5, but the surface at TIO Stadium is struggling to cope with the extraordinary conditions.

AFLNT has transported in a Super Sopper from the South Australian Cricket Association in a bid to dry out five soaked areas on the stadium’s surface.

AFLNT chief executive Tony Frawley said the ground staff had been doing all they could to dry out the oval but they had been restricted because of the relentless downpour.

"Eighty per cent of the oval is OK. We’ve got about five what we call bad spots that have got water on them and we need to get that off," Frawley told afl.com.au.

"It’s not boggy. It’s just wet [but] that means it’s probably dangerous for the AFL players. But it’s only within five spots of five metres by five metres.

"And this Super Sopper is now working on those. Once we get them dry we’ll tarp it and hopefully get it right for Thursday."

Tropical rain has hit Darwin for 13 consecutive days which Frawley said was strange, even for the top end.

"It’s just that we’ve had this unusual amount of rain. We’re getting 100mm a night. The trouble is we haven’t been able to get on it to do the maintenance we wanted to," he said.

"That is the main problem, it’s like any other oval around in Australia, you’ve just got to be able to do it."

Northern Territory Football League games scheduled at TIO Stadium have been moved to nearby Gardens Oval in recent weeks as AFLNT does its best to protect the surface.

There are no more games scheduled at the ground before the All-Stars' match.

Representatives from the AFL and Richmond will inspect the surface on Thursday to determine if it meets the required standard.

Frawley said his staff was doing all it could to make sure the surface was ready for the All-Stars' match, which was always a highlight of football in the Northern Territory.

"That’s why we’re pulling out all stops. We are a couple of months ahead of our planning for the game so we’ve put enormous amount of work into it already," he said.

"Financially, with all the speculation going on, it has probably affected our ticket sales so we need to be positive."

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/106946/default.aspx

[one-eyed]

Does anyone know if I can watch the game later on youtube or anyware other than bigpond, being here its going to be difficult to see it. I am hoping that DSTV wil replay it but....I dont think so.

Given the ABC are doing the telecast, WAT you may be able to watch a replay of the game on IVIEW on the ABC site:

http://www.abc.net.au/iview/

[WA Tiger]

Does anyone know if I can watch the game later on youtube or anyware other than bigpond, being here its going to be difficult to see it. I am hoping that DSTV wil replay it but....I dont think so.

Given the ABC are doing the telecast, WAT you may be able to watch a replay of the game on IVIEW on the ABC site:

http://www.abc.net.au/iview/

Thanks OE, appreciate it.

[10 FLAGS]

Should we be concerned about our players here? - that to me is the big issue.

[mightytiges]

I spoke to Ross from the Club today at training. It's an AFL decision so the Club won't know what's happening until Thursday when the AFL do the ground check. TIO Stadium is the only option in the Northern Territory to play the game at by the way so if the game was to be moved it won't be played elsewhere in Darwin nor Alice Springs. Not good news if you don't have refundable flight tickets. I asked if it could be held down here at Docklands but the Club doesn't know of any alternative plans. Everyone is hoping with the super sopper everything will do the trick.

[Penelope]

Heard Spud's brother Tony (general manager or somethin of the AFLNT) on the radio just before.

He said the water was being replaced as fast as the super sopper can mop it up.

He denied there was a problem with the drainage. 

Also said his opinion was it is the wrong time of year to have such an event up here.

I missed the start of the interview but i got the impression he felt the ground would not be ready.

In saying that..

we currently have blue sky and a big bright shining orb in the sky. 

we did have some rain yesterday but not so much on Sunday  - at our place anyway.

the monsoon trough appears to be shifting to the north and the low to the west looks like it is taking the cloud band/rain with it as it moves west.


If we get another day of this we could be in luck, unfortunately though, I can hear thunder in the distance as I type.

Might be time to pray to jeebus. 

Mararra's rainfall in the last week has been;
22   3.2   10   58   57   43   34   with 0.2  from 9.00 am to 3.00pm today

[one-eyed]

Territory footy fans keep fingers crossed
JESS WEBSTER
NT News
January 25th, 2011

TERRITORY AFL legend Michael Long has joined the fight to save TIO Stadium.

The former Essendon champion got behind the wheel of a super sopper yesterday, fast-tracked from Adelaide Oval, in the hope of draining moisture from the ailing playing surface.

AFL Northern Territory has until Thursday to impress AFL inspectors ahead of the Indigenous All Stars versus Richmond match on February 5, or risk having it moved or cancelled.

"As a past player in the All Stars game it's important to the Territory (that it stays in Darwin)," Long said.

"It (the super sopper) just arrived yesterday, so we will do it in shifts to make sure we get the work done, we will be working around the clock.

"It's all depending on the rain but we will try to do as much as we can.

"At the end of the day it's the AFL's decision but you never know what is going to happen, between now and Thursday who knows where it will be."

The Top End has received more than 1200mm of rain since the start of the wet season in October, up 20 per cent on the average rainfall for this time of year.

TIO Stadium was scheduled to have a two-week break before the exhibition match, but AFLNT was forced to move NTFL matches from Marrara Oval at the weekend so the ground had an extra week to recover.

AFLNT football operations manager Anthony Venes said they would fight until game day to ensure the match was played in Darwin.

"I won't give up hope, even on Thursday if they are negative about it, I will be saying what are the reasons and outcomes to change it," he said.

"As far as we are concerned we want the game here and we don't want to lose it - we will do whatever we can to make sure the oval gets passed.

"We haven't given up on trying to do things, for me it would make life a hell of a lot easier if the rain went away but that's the idea of the super sopper, to try to keep the water off as much as possible so that it gets that chance to firm up."

Showers and possible storms are forecast for Darwin for the rest of the week  .




http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2011/01/25/208581_ntsport.html

[mightytiges]

Also said his opinion was it is the wrong time of year to have such an event up here.

Wrong time of year to have a footy match? Isn't the NTFL in season this time of year  ???.



Anyway it's going to be a very inexperienced side if all the oldies are missing plus Lids, Cotch and Axel. Not sure if we'd risk Jack either in this game. It's hard to put together a team that'll be competitive with all those players missing .

B:  Webberley   Rance      Grimes
HB: Connors     Astbury    Edwards
C:   Morton      Martin      White
HF:  Houli         Miller        Post
F:    Hicks       Vickery      Taylor
R: Browne    Contin    King
Int: Derickx, Thursty, Nahas, O'Reilly, Gourdis, Westhoff, Dea, Batchelor, Helbig, Jakobi

[Penelope]

Also said his opinion was it is the wrong time of year to have such an event up here.

Wrong time of year to have a footy match? Isn't the NTFL in season this time of year  ???.

Yep 
we are talking about a Frawley here!

[Hard Roar Tiger]

Also said his opinion was it is the wrong time of year to have such an event up here.

Wrong time of year to have a footy match? Isn't the NTFL in season this time of year  ???.

Yep 
we are talking about a Frawley here!

By next week he will be saying the ground is  "cherry ripe".