The South Sydney Rabbitohs have announced that they will take on Papua New Guinea in their Return To Redfern clash at Redfern Oval on Saturday 9 February next year. It it one of three pre season games they will play including a game the following week against the Knights in Gosford and of course the Charity Shield match against the St George/Illawarra Dragons.
The clubs also announced that they will play one home game in Perth next season as well as playing one home game at Coffs Harbour and one up in Cairns. That to me seems like a really good balance between playing games at their main home ground at ANZ Stadium at Homebush, and trying to take games to new areas.
The game against Papua New Guinea should be fantastic. The Rabbitohs really seem to try and go out of their way to make the Return To Redfern games interesting with different opponents. If they manage to get the majority of the Papua New Guinea test team together for that game, it is going to be a hard slog too.
I’d like to see more NRL clubs take this planned out approach to the pre season. If we can’t have some sort of pre season trophy on offer, give fans games that are of some interest to see.
I’ve never attended a pre season game, they just don’t interest me at all. I can tell you though that if Penrith started putting on a game every year against a Super League club or an international side at Penrith Football Stadium every February, I’d be the one person to buy a ticket!
Imagine the boost to Papua New Guinea’s test team if every pre season they could get a few good hit outs against NRL opposition. It would be great for them!
So congratulations to South Sydney for getting this information out to fans so early.
You can find more about South Sydney’s pre season schedule and membership information here: http://www.rabbitohs.com.au/news-display/Rabbitohs-Announce-Home-Venues-and-Preseason-Schedule-Ahead-of-2013-Membership-Launch/65110?
