Working around the clock with his team of groundsmen to produce the ‘perfect’ deck, ANZ Stadium Head Curator Graeme Logan has every confidence the VB Blues will shine on his Origin stage come Wednesday night.
Playing the role of a myth-buster on the eve of Origin II, Logan says he is making every effort to reduce dew on the often-dubbed ‘slippery’ ANZ Stadium surface.
“We’re in great shape, we’ve had a double-header weekend (Rabbitohs v Titans, Eels v Dragons), but we’ve pulled through that really well, we’ll be 100%,” Logan tells NSWRL.com.au.
“It’ll play really good. We’re going to put a dew suppressant on tomorrow [Tuesday] night, so that will help to alleviate a lot of the moisture that ryegrass tends to trap in the leaf.
“[The grass] will be three-to-four millimetres lower than we’ve been playing on at a regular weekend, so it should be a little bit lower and faster.”
Overseeing the Stadium’s curation since 1998 – including the ground’s preparation throughout the 2000 Sydney Olympics – Logan has seen the surface both at its best, and in times of need.
Taking assurance out of the many hours vested into the Stadium’s preparation, Logan knows the pitch will again be at its finest on Wednesday night.
“We’ve got six or seven guys working here, eight to 10 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year,” Logan says.
“The pressure coming into a game like this, as is the same with the Grand Final, your homework is done in the off-season.
“We were always coming into this time of year with our scheduled [winter turf] replacement, and our draw, knowing that we were going to produce well for Wednesday night.”