Last weekend’s Central West AFL grand final day at Country Club Oval was spectacular – outside the Orange Tigers’ loss – but, could it have been even better if it was hosted at Wade Park?
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That’s one question Orange City Council candidate Luke Sanger is asking in the lead-up to this year’s election, as a by-product of his push to bring Australian rules’ highest levels to the colour city’s home of sport.
Although a full-time move to Wade Park for this region’s competition is all but out of the question while rugby league calls the ground home, plenty of the AFL’s biggest competitions are played in the pre-season and that’s what Sanger has pledged to target, should he be elected.
“I’ve noticed AFL has built more and more support here in Orange (in recent years),” Sanger said.
“I’m an avid fan myself, I’ve been watching it and loving it since I was just a wee tacker. Bringing any major Australian rules team here, hopefully the (Greater Western Sydney) Giants, would only help Orange.
“One big thing it would do is help the young players in this region identify a pathway, because a lot of people might not know Orange is in [GWS’ catchment area].”
AFL NSW/ACT central west development manager Matt Johnson agreed, saying Wade Park has almost immeasurable potential as an Australian rules ground, with a few tweaks.
“Lengthening the field would be the big thing, but outside that there’s not much work that would need to be done,” he said.
“Wade Park’s a great facility and if we can work with the council to get those couple of upgrades I see no reason why high level games wouldn’t be able to be played here.
“Obviously with more than one user group it would never be about AFL trying to come in and take the ground from rugby league, it would be about working together.
“There’s a number of pre-season competitions that could be targeted, the Women's AFL is played in the pre-season and is going gangbusters, then there’s the JLT Community Series too.”
But, the crucial point, is there any funding available?
“Right now, it’s more about finding the right pitch, the right product for this region to get that funding. [If that takes] three to five years, the AFL is willing to wait that out,” Johnson said.
“So it’s about trying to work with council, with the local clubs, the state level and the top level to facilitate that.
“I guess if it can be done, it could be a stepping stone to eventually seeing the Central West AFL competitions played at Wade Park. But of course, that depends on what all the user groups are doing.
“The bottom line is we want to get a high-level Australian rules game out here in the central west, for the first time.”