Jeff ‘Jimmo’ Jimmieson will work on his 12th NRL grand final on Sunday

The NRL grand final is all about the teams but the game doesn’t start until event directors like Jeff “Jimmo” Jimmieson give the go ahead.

Toowoomba born and bred event director Jeff “Jimmo” Jimmieson will produce his 12th NRL grand final on Sunday.

The stage is set for an historic NRL grand final in Brisbane, but the match only gets under way on the say so of people like born-and-bred Toowoomba man Jeff Jimmieson.

“Jimmo” will be assistant production manager for Sunday’s event, the 12th time he’s worked on an NRL grand final event.

His experience also extends to seven State of Origin games, six World Cup matches, some 150 North Queensland Cowboys home games and five Dally M award nights.

“By the time the GF kicks off, there has been around 120 crew and weeks of work behind the scenes leading up to that whistle blowing,” the St Mary’s College old boy explained.

“We have been on site since Wednesday, building stages in modules for the entertainment on field, presentation stages, installing lighting, sound systems additional to the in house PA, pyrotechnics, broadcast trucks, up to 40 cameras, spider cams and drones.

“Then we rehearse all the entertainment elements – bands, traditional owner dance groups and welcome speeches, anthem singer.

“The disappointing thing is that what the viewer on TV sees is only small part of the experience that the 54,000 at Suncorp experience.

“The full 35-40 minute show in stadium is only shown in small grabs by the broadcaster,” Mr Jimmieson told The Chronicle.

NRL production manager Jeff Jimmieson with sons Liam (left) and CJ when working a recent State of Origin night.

Mr Jimmieson, who was Toowoomba City Council’s public relations officer from 1983 to 1991 before taking over from Mike Horan as general manager of the RASQ at Glenvale Showgrounds, now lives in Townsville where he has produced more than 150 Cowboys home games.

He was last year recognised for his work in the industry.

“Probably the proudest achievement of my career was to be awarded the National Community Event of the Year in 2020 by the events industry for a massive arts festival that I created for Townsville – the North Australian Festival of Arts (NAFA),” he said.

“This was a 32-day arts festival featuring over 600 artists and performers over 300 concerts, shows and performances.

“I have recently concluded my tenure with Townsville City Council as Director of Major Events and Creative Director of the Northern Australian Festival of Arts and now work as a freelance major event consultant all over the country.”