Wagga got it right: Sheedy

THE redeveloped Robertson Oval has been given glowing endorsements by AFL legends Kevin Sheedy and Michael Voss after Saturday night’s historic NAB Cup game in Wagga.

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The finishing touches to the $7 million redevelopment were still being applied during the week leading up to the game, but it all came off with the successful return of AFL football to Wagga after more than 20 years.

Sheedy himself was so impressed with the surface at Friday afternoon’s training run that he took photos to take back to Sydney.

The legendary AFL coach had nothing but praise for Robertson Oval after Saturday night’s game.

“The facilities are fantastic,” Sheedy said.

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

Sheedy explained that Wagga had got it right with its planning.

He said Wagga City Council had perfected the basics and can now push forward with more infrastructure.

“That’s the first thing you’ve got to do if you want to build a great stadium, you start from the ground,” Sheedy said.

“And then what happens around the ground makes it a stadium that the people of the Riverina will be absolutely proud of – you start building facilities eventually.

“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, it looks like the lighting is not a problem I’d say.

“The lighting and the ground are the basics that you work off. Then you can start building a great club and grandstands over the years.”

His Brisbane Lions counterpart was perhaps even more glowing in his judgement of Robertson Oval.

Voss said Brisbane would have no hesitations in returning to Wagga.

“It was brilliant,” Voss said.

“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.”

Voss went as far to say that it was better for the Lions to be in Wagga at the moment than back home.

“As fate would have it, Queensland is horrible at the moment so right at this point in time I’m taking NSW over Queensland,” Voss said.

“I never thought I’d ever say that.”