Macklemore banishes Cows to Kogarah for Grand Final captain's run
Underdog North Queensland has been banished to Kogarah Oval for its grand final captain's run, with ANZ Stadium unavailable because of entertainment dress rehearsals.
7th Tackle can reveal The Cowboys are privately furious over lack of foresight given to arranging training venues in Sydney, which has been tested with the competing interests of two out-of-town combatants. At one stage club figures were so angry they threatened to remain in Townsville until Friday and miss Wednesday night's Dally M Awards.
Both teams have scheduled two training sessions in Sydney - on Thursday and Saturday - after arriving on Wednesday afternoon.
As they have done throughout the finals series in Sydney, The Cowboys wanted to use Leichhardt Oval on Thursday morning.
But so did Melbourne - and the Storm get priority on all split decisions in grand final week given they won the minor premiership. The Cowboys had already been forced to set up camp in the city, because Melbourne chose to base themselves at Olympic Park on the weekend.
Melbourne have since found a private facility to use on Thursday - believed to be a school - so the Cowboys can go to Leichhardt for their biggest session of the week.
But it's a different story for Saturday's captain's run.
In years gone by both grand final sides have taken turns training on ANZ Stadium, to give their players a feel for the arena.
Melbourne booked to train there at 10.30am and they won't finish in time for the Cowboys to run on the surface, before entertainment dress rehearsals - including the main act Macklemore - begin.
North Queensland wanted to head back to Leichhardt - but the ground is unavailable on the weekend thanks to the annual Koori Knock-Out.
It now looks like they'll be banished half an hour south to Kogarah for the all-important captain's run - a far from ideal trip through busy Saturday morning traffic in Sydney.
