AFL Cairns president Gary Young has rolled out the welcome mat for any AFL team wanting to bring premiership games to Cazalys in the future.
Cairns will host Richmond and the Gold Coast for three matches over three years, starting next season on July 16, following upgrades to the stadium and other facilities at Cazalys.
Southern reports also floated the possibility Cairns was on the radar of North Melbourne, who are hunting a second home after their bid to play seven games in Tasmania from 2012 was rejected by the state governments.
A Kangaroos spokesperson, however, yesterday said the club was not looking to play a game in Cairns.
While AFL Cairns never received an approach from the Kangaroos, Young said the league was happy to entertain the idea.
“What it does it plant a terrific seed. It’s fantastic for us,” he said.
“The old adage of ‘build it and they will come’ is proving to have some merit”
“Since the announcement of Federal and State Governments funds to develop the stadium, we’ve had the AFL talk to us, we now have cricket talking to us, as well as a number of other events. Things like this are not just great for us; it’s great economically for the whole city as well.”
AFL boss Andrew Demetriou is on record praising the quality of the Cazalys venue and believes Cairns is capable of hosting more than one competition match a season.
Young said that type of endorsement was priceless.
Demetriou was unavailable for comment yesterday, but AFL corporate affairs manager Brain Walsh confirmed Cairns was an important market for the AFL.
“We are thrilled to be playing a game at the upgraded stadium in Cairns between Richmond and the Gold Coast Suns,” he said.
“We think that the growth of the game in Far North Queensland will continue to gather pace as the ground provides improved training facilities for our talent, ,schools and ADL Cairns programs run throughout the year,”
Last Modified on 10/05/2011 16:33