The Penrith Panthers will help appease the NSW government's demand for 65 games to be played across its network of major venues, pledging to temporarily shift up to four home matches to a venue such as ANZ Stadium to help secure Sydney's $1.6 billion stadiums upgrade.
Widely considered to be quarantined from the state government's push to have Sydney clubs fulfil the quota for the once-in-a-generation funding, the Panthers will provide an 11th-hour headache-easer for the NRL and Australian Rugby League Commission boss John Grant.
Fairfax Media understands the Panthers and the NRL are set to clinch a deal which will see Penrith shift some matches away from their Pepper Stadium base to either Olympic Park, Moore Park or Parramatta.
League Central had been courting the Tigers, Dragons, Sharks and Sea Eagles to find an extra seven regular season matches - on top of the two joint venture clubs' current commitment to playing four games each at ANZ Stadium - to reach the 65-game allotment at the city's major venues before Friday's state government deadline.
The NRL is including up to six to eight games of premium content - including finals matches and State of Origin - in its proposed package.
But Penrith's executive general manager Phil Gould has indicated the Panthers would be willing to accommodate any state government request his club shift games away from Pepper Stadium, provided it furthers Penrith's cause to have a fourth major venue built in greater western Sydney.
The pledge will help ease the burden on the city's other four clubs with suburban bases to head to larger venues.
"They haven't asked us anything yet, but from our point of view we're prepared to take a couple of games - maybe three, maybe even four - if that helps to get the deal done for the state government," Gould said at the opening of the Panthers' state-of-the-art $22 million academy on Wednesday.
"That's only temporary and that's only to get the NRL their wishlist and eventually be a part of the state government providing us with a stadium for our long-term future. The state government has been very good to us and we'll support them."
The Panthers will play back-to-back home games outside Sydney later this season, travelling to Bathurst's Carrington Park to host the Raiders before starting a commitment to Christchurch with a match against the Warriors.
Gould said the shift of those games would help the club "make ends meet financially", but was adamant any move east for home matches would only be a temporary fix to help the push for a new stadium with a capacity of 30,000 or more being built in Penrith.
"If ever Penrith had to play at ANZ Stadium or Allianz, part of the policy is there would always be a visible presence here in Penrith," Gould said.
"The Panthers will never leave Penrith ... ever. We may have to co-operate to play a few games somewhere with the help of a greater plan.
"Our aim is to have the fourth Sydney stadium - if and when it is built - out here at Penrith. That's our goal and if co-operating with the state government helps to bring that around sooner that's what we'll do."
Aside from the Panthers, the Sharks and Manly have shaped as the biggest stumbling blocks for the NRL to secure home game switches from their suburban bases at Brookvale and Woolooware.
Cronulla's stand-in skipper Wade Graham, who will relinquish captaincy duties to Paul Gallen for his return against the Tigers on Saturday night, highlighted the concerns his teammates have in playing regular fixtures at Moore Park away from Southern Cross Group Stadium.
"I don't think it would be giving the Cronulla community what they deserve," Graham said. "This is the Cronulla Sharks and it's not about the players, it's about the fans.
"They come here to watch us play. There were only 10,000 [on Monday night against the Storm], but you hear how much it means to them. To take a Cronulla Sharks game away from [the Shire] is not taking it away from us, it's taking it away from the fans."
This story originally appeared on www.smh.com.au
