League bosses have rejected claims that Queensland was only used as a bargaining chip to get a better deal out of New South Wales to host the NRL Grand Final.
The ARL Commission on Thursday announced this year’s decider would be held at Sydney’s Accor Stadium.
But the deal is only for this year, opening the door for a bidding war for future grand finals.
Queensland’s Deputy Premier Steven Miles has lashed out at the decision, accusing the ARLC of using the Sunshine State as a pawn.
“I’ve got to say as a Queenslander and rugby league fan I’m pretty disappointed,” Mr Miles wrote on social media.
“It’s now clear the NRL always intended to play the GF in Sydney and they were just using Qld in their negotiations with NSW. We wanted it more than NSW but that didn’t matter in the end. When will they stop treating Queensland as second-class NRL citizens?
“We’re not visitors in the NSWRL competition anymore and they should stop acting like we are.
“League’s biggest supporters are in Queensland, it’s time for the NRL to recognise that and treat us the way we deserve.”
League bosses have denied Queensland was never really in the running insisting that they were leaning towards Brisbane as late as Wednesday before NSW came back with a beefed-up offer.
“Negotiations and the deliberations around where to play this year’s grand final were real and they went all the way down to the wire,” NRL CEO Andrews Abdo told Nine.
“It’s always going to be important for us to act in the best interest of our stakeholders and our community. We just want the right thing for our fans.”
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was far more diplomatic in her response to the decision.
“Where to host this year’s Grand Final was always the NRL’s decision to make. We wish them well. If they ever want to bring the grand final back to Queensland we’re always willing to talk.”
