CITY of Greater Bendigo sports fields team leader Roger Barbetti believes the Bendigo Football-Netball League’s decision to postpone its finals last weekend will pay a major dividend later in the season.
Barbetti is confident that with the Queen Elizabeth Oval not being played on last weekend, and it scheduled to host just three football semi-finals this weekend instead of the usual six, the ground should be in terriffic condition for the preliminary final and grand final.
As well as the QEO hosting semi-finals this Saturday night, so too will Golden Square’s Country Vet Oval on Saturday afternoon.
The games at Golden Square will be the first finals played away from the QEO since 2003.
“Really, we haven’t had to do a lot to the grounds this week because with no matches played on them last weekend, they look terrific, the QEO included,’’ Barbetti said yesterday.
“We verti-trained the QEO last week, which is basically deep-aerating to give the ground a greater capacity to handle a bit of rain, although not as much as we had last week because there was still quite a bit of water laying on the ground on Saturday.
“We did the verti-draining at Golden Square yesterday, so whatever rain we get there won’t be a problem, and we’ve flattened out the centre wicket area, which was a bit cut up.
“From our point of view, it was a smart decision by the league last week because both grounds are going to be in good nick for the weekend, even given the fact there is a bit of rain forecast for tomorrow.
“I’d be confident both games will be played in good conditions.
“And certainly, splitting up the grounds and only having one lot of matches at the QEO will help it, so we will be confident that for the preliminary final and grand final it will be in good condition... unless we get another rain event like we did last week, which is obviously in the lap of the gods.
“Now that spring has sprung, we’ve got grass coming through on some of the thin areas at the QEO, so in another fortnight’s time the ground could really be looking terrific, so that’s what we’re hoping for.’’
Barbetti said the council’s parks staff would have supported the BFNL had it chosen to play at the QEO last weekend, but he believed the league made the right call to postpone its games.
“It would have taken a really heavy toll on the ground; you only have to look at the Colbinabbin ground (which hosted the Heathcote District Football League grand final last Saturday),’’ Barbetti said.
The QEO would have been twice as bad as the Colbinabbin ground with two days of footy on it and we would have been flat out getting onto it by now to patch it up, so there’s no doubt it was a good decision all round.’’
Meanwhile, the Bendigo Junior Football League’s postponed preliminary finals from last weekend remain scheduled to be played at Kennington’s Harry Trott Oval this Saturday and Sunday.
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