The effects of hosting three BFL games on Saturday was visible, with the ground in a noticeably muddy state through the corridor.

The worst affected areas were inside the forward 50m arc at the Barnard Street end of the oval. Acting manager of city parks Roger Barbetti said the ground would again be closed for club training this week to allow it to recover for next weekend’s matches.

“We’ve closed the ground to training out of necessity, due to the heavy rainfall last week.

“This weekend demonstrates that the ground is fragile when there is 60mm of rain when competition is on.

“If it’s a good drying week there should be no reason why it won’t be ready for the weekend’s matches.”

The city has acknowledged the QEO surface is in need of redevelopment, with a proposed $500,000 per quarter allocated in the 2010-11 draft budget last week.

The issue was also brought into the spotlight last year, when the Bendigo Bombers were forced to reschedule games to be held at the ground to Essendon’s Windy Hill.

Although the QEO surface was hit hard last weekend, Barbetti said it was not the only ground which suffered from the region’s heavy weekend rainfall.

“The QEO was not the only ground which suffered due to the heavy rain.

“The inter-league matches at Harry Trott were also affected and Dower Park for the Kangaroo Flat versus Sandhurst match was in similar condition to the QEO.

“We are putting in an irrigation system at Canterbury Park (Eaglehawk) at the moment be

cause they have a month of no senior football being played there, which is a greater opportunity than between the football and cricket seasons.”

In the short term, Barbetti said the city would monitor the QEO surface to ensure it was at an appropriate playing standard.

“It should be available to play on this weekend because there will be little to no rain this week in the lead up.

“We constantly monitor the workload at the ground and what it can be exposed to.

“If we have to regulate training to maintain the conditions at the ground, then that’s what we’ll do.”

Sandhurst will host Gisborne at the QEO this Saturday.