Club owner keen to push Melbourne NRL grand final

Melbourne Storm owner Matt Tripp is putting a proposal together in hopes of luring the grand final away from Sydney or Queensland and instead have it hosted at the MCG.

The Daily Telegraph's Paul Kent told NRL 360 that Tripp is putting his money where his mouth is - pledging that he will outbid any other team to get the last dance hosted on his turf.

While the season's final game has, for 114 years, been played on NSW soil, the recent outbreak of the Covid-19 delta variant in Sydney has put a dark and doubtful cloud over this long-standing tradition.

With the league relocating to Queensland in Round 18 and the states government recently extending the NSW's teams stay in the 'bubble', the next logical destination would be holding it there right?

Tripp has thrown a spanner in the works, apparently in the process of trying to make the numbers work if the option arises for the club to buy the game off the NRL.

With Covid-19 having voided the long-term agreement between the NRL and NSW, and Queensland only just recently coming out of a snap lockdown of its own, the chances of the grand final being played in a state outside of the two proposed is the highest it will ever be, according to Paul Kent, who spoke on Fox Sports show NRL 360.

“They (the NRL) have got force majeure – unforeseen circumstances which make the contract no longer valid,” Kent told the show.

“We have heard the Queensland Government are interested, NSW still want to host the grand final, Craig Bellamy came out earlier in the week to push it to Melbourne.

“Matt Tripp, as an independent owner, wants to give the NRL a cheque and, like a boxing promoter, say: ‘here you go, there’s your money and I’ll go and put on the grand final’.

“He can see what he can pick up himself and he wants to fill the MCG. The Victorian government will be sitting back at the moment with this Steven Bradbury approach, hoping the others fill up with Covid-19 cases and thus giving the NRL no other choice but to take it to Victoria.”

ARL Commission chairman Peter V'landys understands the problems that could arise by opening the rights to host the game up to bids, much like NFL franchises bid on Super Bowls, but, in principle, is open to the idea.

"We've got to be agile so we're open to anything," V'landys said.

"I have the upmost respect for Matt Trip so naturally we would look at it (his bid), he's a brilliant mind.

"Whatever returns the most for the game, we'll look at it."

As Tripp continues on his campaign to bring the final game south to the MCG, the boss of Suncorp Stadium Alan Graham has apparently made a plea for the NRL to play their finale in Brisbane - one of the cities responsible for the continuation of the NRL season.

With V'landys expected to begin negotiations with the Queensland Government about playing the grand final in Brisbane shortly, Kent believes that this is "far from its only option".

If the game was played in Melbourne, not only would this be the first time it would be held outside of NSW, but would signify a potential shift in the game becoming much more privatised.