Our Future: Ex-NRL half Daniel Mortimer's must-haves for our new sporting precinct

The former Parramatta Eels and Sydney Roosters half played in two National Rugby League grand finals in front of 80,000-plus people at the Sydney Olympic Stadium - now Accor Stadium - while also playing top flight rugby league in England, too.

So he knows a thing or two about what works best at elite sporting precincts, and what makes them places both players and spectators flock to.

Work has really started to ramp up at Orange's multi-million dollar sporting precinct out at Bloomfield and Mr Mortimer, now the captain-coach of his junior club Orange CYMS, says ensuring the city's new sporting complex does two things well will set it apart from the likes of Mudgee's Glen Willow and Dubbo's Apex Oval - two of regional NSW's best rectangular grounds.

He says sinking the playing field to create that amphitheater feel and clean, professional change rooms, and lots of them, will ensure professional sporting teams and codes look to Orange first if and when the push to bring more top flight sport to regional parts of the state ramps up even more.

"Good facilities for the players," Mr Mortimer said straight off the bat when asked what Orange's new precinct needed.

"I love it when you walk in to a place and it feels professional, you feel like you're being taken seriously.

"You get that feeling in Mudgee. You walk in, there's nice big, clean change rooms ... you walk in there straight away more positive and focused, as opposed to the old Wade Park change rooms."

He added, for fans, ensuring every inch of the surrounding seating or spectator areas is the best seat in the house was crucial.

And the best way to do that?

"I loved the grounds with a hill. A big, grass hill and that sunken field, it created a bit of a natural amphitheater. Henson Park is the perfect example of that. It's not a big fancy stadium, it's got one stand that's size of, probably, Wade Park's grandstand. It's a bit like Apex Oval.

"And it's probably the one criticism I have of Mudgee; it's got that beautiful big stadium, but the other three sides feel a bit flat. I love that colosseum feel at park stadiums. It creates that atmosphere, and that's better for players and fans. The players feed off that."

Mr Mortimer said creating a hill that essentially sits more than the main grandstand will give the city a precinct people will flock to be part of - think Leichhardt Oval or Brookvale Oval.

Plus, he says, it means there's no need to construct any temporary seating - like you see at Carrington Park when the Panthers hold their annual clash in Bathurst - when larger events roll into town.

"The hills are already there," he added.

"I loved it at Henson, I loved playing at Leichhardt too and Suncorp is hard to beat as one of the big stadiums, but I tend to love those suburban grounds more. There's just something about them.

"It's not necessarily state of the art, it's about the feel. Hopefully we can develop that here in Orange."