Giants, Lions to draw huge Robbo crowd

McPherson made the bold prediction yesterday after learning the AFL had scheduled the round two game between Greater Western Sydney (GWS) and Brisbane to be played in Wagga on Saturday, March 2.

The NAB Cup clash will be played on the new and improved Robertson Oval under lights.

McPherson yesterday tweeted, "is a crowd of 10,000 unrealistic?", and backed Robertson Oval to be filled to the brim.

The game will not be televised but McPherson believes this will only boost crowd numbers.

"To a certain degree it is disappointing the game won't be televised," McPherson said.

"But these regional games are about giving fans and giving kids the chance to watch the superstars of the game live in their own town.

"I think this $7 million facility (Robertson Oval) and its centre of excellence will be great promotion for Wagga and for the region.

"We couldn't be happier to get a NAB Cup game here."

It will be the first AFL pre-season game to be played in Wagga in two decades and the first game played on the revamped multisport ground.

Wagga is one of six regional centres to land a NAB Cup round game in 2013, trumping its closest competitor Albury.

The Giants played a NEAFL game here last year but the new AFL club agreed to bring its NAB Cup campaign to Wagga as part of a $300,000 deal signed between the club and Wagga City Council in May.

McPherson admitted while the Giants and Lions don't have big fan bases in Wagga, the general AFL public would support the event.

"Their fans would be pretty minimal here, but the Giants are a very new club," he said.

"With this council agreement GWS obviously wants to make southern NSW theirs, and this will only increase their foothold in the region."

McPherson struggled to remember the last time a game as big as the NAB Cup had been played in Wagga.

"Paul (Habel) has worked here 17 years and there hasn't been a game in his time," he said.

"We think it's at least 20 years ago."