THE two decade-long Robertson Oval Project came to a delightful end on Saturday night, but no one was more relieved than Jarrod Bryant.
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Having worked as the strategic planner for Wagga City Council the past six years, Bryant has ridden a roller coaster of trials and tribulations that all lead to Saturday night's NAB Cup spectacle.
Although the 7068-strong crowd was slightly less than originally anticipated, Bryant admitted he felt a combination of relief and accomplishment to witness decades of hard work come to fruition with such success.
"It's taken a very long time to get to this point, and (Saturday) made it all the more satisfying to have followed it through for so long and finally we've got an operational venue and something that Wagga can be proud of," he told The Daily Advertiser after the game.
"The Robertson Oval upgrade project has been on the council radar for the better part of 20 years.
"I've been with council for about six years now and I've been dealing with it ever since I started, and council was working on it a long time before that.
"We achieved what we set out to achieve and the investment we've made in the facility has been well worth it.
"It was just great to see the planning on the day and how it all played out, and it finally see it in action."
While mingling with the spectators and catching glimpses of Brisbane Lions' exciting victory over Greater Western Sydney (GWS), Bryant said he was thrilled to hear such positive feedback from the crowd.
However, Bryant insists the development hasn't been completely put to rest and admits there is a few minor adjustments that can now be made after seeing the ground in action.
"There's always opportunities for improvement and (Saturday) was a fantastic experience to see what the ground was capable of," he said.
"Of course there's little things we can tweak in order to improve the overall experience, but they're only minor things.
"With a bit of time we can work on the facility those elements can easily be added to make things even smoother.
"I heard nothing but positive comments, everybody was very complimentary in terms of how the venue was presented.
"I thought the field was fantastic, the spectator facilities were much better from a viewing perspective, all reports were glowing in terms of those things."
Most notably, Bryant revealed GWS coach Kevin Sheedy and Brisbane Lions coach Michael Voss gave "glowing" reports of the surface of the ground.
"I have to mention the curator Brian Cattell as well, he's put a lot of time and effort into the ground, it received glowing recommendations from both teams," he said.
"That in itself helps to bring teams back and get the ball rolling for these sorts of events.
"Those comments echo throughout the AFL and that's only good for us."
