Robertson Oval deemed a winner

By James Matthey

The two coaches gave their seal of approval to Wagga’s main sporting venue after the GWS GIANTS did battle with the Brisbane Lions on Saturday night.

The NAB Cup clash, the first time AFL football has visited the Riverina in over 20 years, was deemed a success by the AFL icons due to the quality of the facilities.

Speaking after the match, Sheedy had nothing but admiration for the newly refurbished ground, which took $7.1 million to come to fruition.

“The facilities are fantastic.”

“The ground is great, it’s a great oval.”

The four-time premiership winning coach said the ground’s facilities allowed the players to perform at their best, providing a unique spectacle for the 7000-strong crowd.

“The lights are terrific, from that point of view, for the players to be able to mark the ball and mark the ball quite well and pick it up off the ground pretty well.”

Voss echoed Sheedy’s sentiments, claiming his side would love to return to Wagga in the future.

“It was brilliant,” said Voss.

“Coming here was sensational.”

“I don’t know what the ground looked like before, but if it was anything close to this then we would be more than willing to come back.”

Southern NSW AFL Community Football Manager, Paul Habel, joined in the chorus of approval, saying the success of the night was highlighted by the strong level of community support.

“Across the board everything went well, the crowd numbers were good, the ground was great and the game itself was fantastic as well,” said Habel.

“The amount of young kids there was fantastic.”

“The two teams and the AFL were very impressed with the facility.”

“It was fantastic for sport in the city and it is fantastic for Wagga to have such a great facility.”