The Cronulla Sharks will reportedly apply to the NRL to host a Week 2 final at Sharks Stadium if they make the top four and then lose a qualifying final.
Current NRL rules state that clubs in Sydney are allowed to host their opening week final at a suburban home ground, but after that, games must move to one of the big three locations: Allianz Stadium at Moore Park, Accor Stadium at Sydney Olympic Park, or CommBank Stadium at Parramatta.
The Sharks, located in the Shire, would typically host finals in Week 2 or 3, if they made it that far, at Allianz Stadium.
This year, that won't be an option, though, with the venue to be closed after the opening week of the finals to undergo a ten-week drainage operation.
The venue has struggled with heavy rain ever since it opened, and will be knocked out for the last weeks of the NRL finals, as well as the start of the A-League season, as a result.
It will reopen for a concert in December.
But that is no good to the Sharks, who face the very real prospect of hosting the Penrith Panthers in Week 2 of the finals.
If they defeat the Canterbury Bulldogs in Round 27, they could finish in fourth spot on the ladder if the Brisbane Broncos fall short against the Melbourne Storm, and the New Zealand Warriors do not beat the Manly Sea Eagles by such a margin that they would wind up ahead on for and against.
If that happens, and the Sharks fall short in Week 1, they would then potentially have to host the Panthers at either Homebush or Parramatta.
The Panthers have used Parramatta as their home stadium this year while their own stadium at the foot of the mountains has been knocked down and rebuilt, and Homebush is far closer to Penrith than it is Cronulla.
That has, per an AAP report, led the Sharks to apply for an exemption to host a Week 2 final at Shark Park.
The venue has already come under the microscope when it comes to a potential Week 1 elimination final, and while it has been cleared to host, it is the smallest venue in the NRL and has a range of other issues.
The Sharks reportedly believe it will cost around $180 million to give the venue a proper facelift and bring it in line with other suburban stadiums, which are currently being upgraded.
The NRL are, on the surface at least, unlikely to grant the exemption if the Sharks do host in Week 2, with their own rules stating it won't happen.
If it doesn't happen, the Sharks would likely head to Homebush to, at the very least, avoid hosting Penrith at the ground they have used all season.
Whether any other grounds - such as Wollongong's WIN Stadium - could be requested or even considered by the Sharks remains to be seen.
That venue's capacity is 23,750 compared to CommBank Stadium's 30,000 capacity, and is crucially not a ground that could be considered anything bordering on a Penrith home ground.
The driving time from the Sharks' Woolooware base to Homebush could be up to an hour, while it's a similar story heading south to Wollongong.
DELLUSIONAL!!!! they will not win tonight or next week they are making up numbers,
you absolute idiots! even when we win we look slow, predictable and bloody lazy so for the Sharks to put forward this request is once again DELLUSIONAL!!!!