Waratahs prop Paddy Ryan says stadium rebuild will give team the chance to reconnect with grassroots in the suburbs

WARATAHS prop Paddy Ryan is lobbying the club to take home games to suburban rugby grounds next year, urging his boss to ignore corporate guests who want to sit in boxes away from punters.

Waratahs prop Paddy Ryan plays his 100th Super Rugby match next Saturday.

WARATAHS prop Paddy Ryan is lobbying the club to take home games to suburban rugby grounds next year, urging his boss to ignore corporate guests who want to sit in boxes away from punters and eat fancy food.

Ryan wants NSW Rugby chief Andrew Hore to put corporates in tents and serve them canned rum and steak sandwiches in 2019 while their home ground of Allianz Stadium is being rebuilt.

“Some corporates want to sit in a box and feel fancy, you chuck them under a marquee, have the post-match in there after the game,” Ryan told the Sunday Telegraph.

“Rather than getting your duck pancakes, you’re in a marquee, you get your canned rum, canned beer, getting served steak sangas.

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“The boys come in after the game, you get the chance to mingle with them for an hour after, have a few beers.

Waratahs prop Paddy Ryan plays his 100th Super Rugby match next Saturday.

“And the people who don’t want to come because they’re not getting their duck pancakes and sitting away from the punters, well bugger them, it’s not for them.”

Ryan will play his 100th Super Rugby match next Saturday when the Tahs host Auckland Blues at Brookvale Oval, and the 29-year-old confirmed he’d already spoken to Hore about his idea to take home games to smaller venues next season.

The Tahs had explored the idea of taking the Blues game to suburban grounds but opted against it because they don’t have corporate boxes, where much revenue is made.

Waratahs prop Paddy Ryan about to tackle Jaguares halfback Bautista Delguy.

“Playing at Brookie on Saturday will be great, to take rugby to a suburban ground is a great idea,” Ryan said.

“It could be a taste of things to come, while that renovation is being done, in my opinion we’re much better off going to suburban rugby grounds.

“I’d like to see us go to real rugby grounds like Rat Park, Sydney Uni would have the capability to host one. Embrace the culture of our Polynesian players and go to Parramatta, take a game to the country, places like Tamworth, Mudgee, Dubbo, all have the capability of hosting a big game.

“It’s a great opportunity to reconnect with the community, something rugby needs to do at the moment. We’re almost starting at square one, we’ve had a couple of rough years commercially.

Part of the bumper crowd for the Warringah v Manly clash at Warringah Rugby Park last year.

“If [NSW Premier Gladys] Berejiklian and the state government go through with the renovation, it gives us an opportunity to reconnect with the rugby faithful and build off the work the Shute Shield has been doing.

“Imagine Rats v Manly at Rat Park at 3pm, then Tahs kicking off at 5.30pm, it'd be awesome, you’d get 22,000 there and they’d all have an awesome night.”

While rugby is enduring its problems, veteran Ryan remains optimistic about the game’s future.

“In my opinion we still have the best product because rugby is a game for every single shape and size,” Ryan said.

“You can be a short lock or No.6, if you’re a big fat bloke, sweet, you’re in the front row. If you’re meticulous and a little bit weird, you’re probably playing hooker. You talk a lot, you’re a halfback. You’re fast, you’re on the wing.

“We’ve got a good base, we’ve got some work to do as a game but I don’t think it’s beyond us.

Part of the crowd at the Waratahs v Highlanders trial match at Brookvale Oval last season.

“Australian rugby has good, humble men, we’ve got that sorted.

“We need to fire up the women’s game, it’s far more entertaining than women’s AFL in my opinion, AFL for men is a far better product than for women, the scoring is too low there.

“League is on par with women’s rugby, but I think we’ve got an advantage with the sevens in the Olympics. We need to fire up our Super-W up and get the sevens superstars coming back into their state teams.

“We’ve got the people, I hope we’ve got the administration. I don’t know enough about them, but I like where Raelene [Castle] has started. Certainly at NSW we do, Andrew Hore is running a great show.”

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Originally published as Waratahs prop Paddy Ryan says stadium rebuild will give team the chance to reconnect with grassroots in the suburbs