THE AFL Riverina Championship grand final is set to be played at Robertson Oval in Wagga.
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Riverina League's Competition Management Committee is still in the process of finalising the make-up of the finals series but the grand final is all but locked in for Robertson Oval.
It is expected that Robertson Oval could host three out of the four finals as AFL NSW-ACT explore the possibility of adopting a 'major facility COVID plan' that could increase crowd limits from 500 to 25 per cent of capacity.
It is believed AFL NSW-ACT will adopt the same measures across the state.
Riverina League president Chris Flanigan explained that Robertson Oval was in the box seat to host the first AFL Riverina Championship grand final.
"There's probably a couple of reasons why we will look to play most of the finals there," Flanigan said.
"Gep's looking at the ticketing arrangement so we can get 25 per cent capacity in there. So they're working through that but to do that we need to be fully ticketed."
Narrandera Sportsground has been long regarded as the home of finals football in the region but the Eagles were one of four Riverina League clubs to sit out the season.
Flanigan said the reason to move away from Narrandera was more to do with the town's community itself.
"It's more probably to do with Narrandera having community concern," he said.
"You don't want to take a crowd of say 3000 there when they have concerns in the community around it. That probably played a part in it as well."
This year's grand final is expected to draw a big crowd with strong interest in the unique six-team competition, particularly from the Hume and Ovens and Murray League regions.
With the gate, bar and catering duties to be sorted in coming days, Flanigan revealed the clubs may opt for change and look to outsource.
"We've got a couple of options which we'll work out this week," he said.
"The option is there to either look at sharing the workload across all clubs and splitting the profits. There is also the option there to take the workload completely away from clubs and go to tender with food vans and what not like they do at festivals.
"That would take the workload away from the clubs. A couple of the clubs have indicated they would rather sub it out."
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