What better way to quickly revive a home-ground feel for players than turning a stadium into a giant bedroom for a night?
So went the thinking of Waratahs coach Darren Coleman before the team’s return to Allianz Stadium next Friday, when NSW will open their Super Rugby campaign against the Brumbies.
The Waratahs haven’t played at the Moore Park venue since the quarter-finals in June 2018, prior to it being knocked down and re-built. But squad evolution in the past 4½ years meant many of the Waratahs players had never played at Allianz Stadium. Some hadn’t even been inside since it opened last year.
So, as part of a familiarisation process on Tuesday evening, Coleman had his players sleep overnight on the Allianz Stadium turf.
Harry Johnson-Holmes’ view of the Waratahs’ camping trip on Allianz Stadium.
“You want your home ground to have a home ground feel, and some of our boys hadn’t been in there yet,” Coleman said.
“It was for them to gain an appreciation of the place.”
The sleepover, which Coleman admits he borrowed from Trent Robinson doing the same thing with the Roosters in the 2018 pre-season, came at the end of an afternoon in which Waratahs players learned about the new stadium, and the Waratahs’ history in it since it became their home ground in 1996.
The Waratahs trained on the ground in the afternoon, did a tour and then attended the NSW Rugby season launch in a function room later in the evening. After the event the team watched a film about the construction of Allianz Stadium, and their bedtime story came in the form of Nathan Grey delivering a speech about why the Moore Park venue is the Waratahs’ fortress.
“We had a talk from, in my opinion, one of the toughest and most passionate Tahs in Nathan Grey. I have a visual in my head of him coming down that tunnel yelling ‘our house’, it was Billy Moore-esque,” Coleman said.
“He came in and spoke about what the ground meant to him and what playing for the Waratahs meant for him. Then to add a bit a novelty value to it, the boys spread out on the field and slept there. Or attempted to sleep there. We slept for a few hours and then the rain hit us about 2am. It was every man for himself at that point. Most ducked inside.”
Nathan Grey speaks to the Waratahs on the Allianz Stadium turf.
With rain having fallen steadily on Tuesday, many players had come prepared for the weather with swags. But they still weren’t convinced Coleman would go through with it.
“When it was raining all afternoon I could feel a movement from the senior players to see if I was going to stick it out, but then it pretty much cleared, so we had no excuse not to,” Coleman said.
At the season launch, with drizzle falling outside, Coleman took a vote from the crowd whether he should stick with the sleepover plan. The unforgiving room voted yes, though Coleman joked he could see no players with a hand up.
The view of Allianz Stadium at night from Harrison Goddard’s swag.
“I’m not going to lie, when I was looking through the season launch and it was pouring, I was a little bit sceptical,” Waratahs captain Jake Gordon said. “I was sitting next to Darren and I could see him checking the weather app, non-stop. But no, I thought it was a great idea.
“Me and Lachie Swinton shared a swag. Won’t be doing that again.”
The Waratahs are hoping their first game at the new Allianz Stadium will pick up where last season ended, with bumper crowds packing into the temporary home of Leichhardt Oval. Coleman has made no secret of his desire for the Waratahs to revive the glory days at Allianz Stadium, when the team drew more than 30,000 people to games.
That will come with success, he hopes, and success will come from returning the venue to its former status as a fortress.
“I feel when we go back in there on Friday we will be a little bit more familiar with it, and have a touchpoint with it. Not many people can say they’ve slept on the turf at Allianz,” Coleman said.
“It was all about, I guess, dreaming big. You can do some amazing things. It is a cauldron for so many amazing sporting environments. Why can’t we?
“Why can’t Teddy Wilson do the next George Gregan tackle in the corner? If you dream big, things can happen.“
