Parramatta Eels’ Centre of Excellence opens at Kellyville
From rickety chairs and outdoor ice baths to the world’s largest rugby league training facility, the Eels’ swish new footy and admin precinct is unrecognisable from its old stomping ground. Take a look.
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The Eels have consigned the days of outdoor ice baths and gyms in demountables to the history books now players and staff have settled into a $70m performance centre that is the largest rugby league training facility in the world.
The Parramatta Eels Centre of Excellence, which has five full-sized football fields, a 1500-seat grandstand, administration offices, a theatre, media rooms, a world-class gym, aquatic rehabilitation facilities and a cafe for the NRL and NRLW teams, is officially open.
The Eels, Parramatta Leagues Club, the state and federal governments, and Hills Shire Council funded the cavernous 11-hectare Kellyville Park showpiece.
It also includes multipurpose function rooms for the public, four large locker rooms, change rooms and kiosks in a facility that takes care of players’ needs from caffeine to cardio and card games.
When it’s time to heal bruised and battered muscles, there’s a 17m swimming pool, infra-red saunas, plunge pools and rows of massage beds to aid the recovery process.
It’s a parallel universe to the Eels’ former training base at the Old Saleyards Reserve in North Parramatta.
Chief executive Jim Sarantinos recalls in 2016 the gym was spread across demountables, ice baths were on the balcony and the plastic chairs from Bunnings were so tight players stumbled off them.
“Credit to them, the players never used it as an excuse for performance but at some point it has an impact. It impacts the experience, it impacts the ability to retain and recruit players so it was a real challenge,’’ Mr Sarantinos said.
“It was incredibly underwhelming. It just wasn’t fitting for what an NRL club should have and to think that now we’re probably in the best training facility across the game … it’s incredible but it’s also where the club should be.’’
The club announced its controversial exit from Parramatta in 2019, the year the $300m stadium opened.
Its first preference was to remain in the heartland but a Parramatta Council blunder led to the city losing its best asset – the NRL team.
In 2014 the council approved plans for a $26m high-performance training and administration at the Old Saleyards but fast forward five years, the project failed to come to fruition with the council asleep at the wheel.
The Hills Shire Council, with the support of the state and federal government, pounced and made an offer too good to refuse so the club relocated to the country’s fastest growing region.
“If you look at pretty much all the largest global sporting organisations, very few of them have their state-of-the-art training facilities which require the size and scale in the heart of the city in which they play in,’’ Mr Sarantinos said.
“And the reality is whilst we wanted to stay in Parramatta – and that was the initial preference – we’re incredibly blessed to be out here and we never would have ended up with the amount of green space and the ability to combine our men’s, women’s and our pathways programs in the one location.’’
The precinct will be used for NRLW and NSW Cup trial matches and junior representative games, while 700 athletes and staff will use the facility, which includes 6000sq m of indoor space, weekly.
“We’re obviously the primary beneficiary of this but this has been very deliberately set up in a way where other junior sports, community sports will in due course be able to access the space,’’ Mr Sarantinos said.
“I think it’s a great symbol of the size and scale we have as a club and the region that we represent.
“Western Sydney broadly is the third largest city in the country and we’re the biggest sporting brand in western Sydney so for me I think it’s fitting for us to have a facility of this size and scale.’’
The club drew inspiration from visits to Tottenham FC, the Dallas Cowboys’ $1.5bn facility, along with the Cowboys’ base in Townsville and the Brisbane Broncos’ headquarters.
Coach Jason Ryles has named the theatre Jack’s Bus, a nostalgic nod to legendary ‘80s coach Jack Gibson who bought a bus to use for team meetings when Parramatta Stadium was under construction and players would train at Granville Park.
The presence of the club’s premiership blitz in the 1980s is evident throughout the building with memorabilia, some of it donated by legends such as Peter Sterling and Peter Wynn.
The players have also endorsed their new stomping ground.
“They’re incredibly appreciative of what they’ve got and I think they bounce into the place every day. Having a cafe on site is really helpful as well,’’ Mr Sarantinos said.
“Everyone in the past, if you wanted to grab a coffee or a bite to eat, you either needed to make it yourself or go off site … it may not seem like a big thing but it is.’’
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Originally published as Parramatta Eels’ Centre of Excellence opens at Kellyville
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