SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 23: Lachlan Lam of the Roosters kicks during the round two NRL match between the Manly Sea Eagles and the Sydney Roosters at Lottoland on March 23, 2019 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Roosters coach Trent Robinson believes the NRL need to take better care of their grounds, after Sydney veteran Brent Morris injured himself on the Brookvale turf on Saturday.
Morris sustained a partial ligament injury after kicking up a divot in the turf, with Robinson leaping to his aid after the match.
“As a coach you don’t want to come here and complain about Brookvale Oval,” Robinson said.
“But we need to make sure that the standard of the surface is consistent across all NRL teams.
“It’s not that hard, we’re a professional sport now. We just need to have professional standards across the surface.
“The knee went into the turf and then a clump comes up. It digs right in and twists on that. It shouldn’t go in that far, to be honest.
“It’s probably not right to bring up another code, but they do it well.
“The AFL has certain restrictions on the ground. It has to be tested to get to AFL standard about the hardness and the softness. There’s a rating, and if you’re not in that rating, you can’t hold your AFL games. We’re not at that level.
“We’ve got an amazing ground and an amazing stadium, but the surface varies. We need to look at that as a game to standardise our fields right across (the board) and make sure there’s a high-quality surface for the athletes we’ve got playing.”
Morris joins a growing list of NRL stars to have injured themselves at the stadium, and just last month the Sea Eagles had to move their trial match against Cronulla to Shark Park because of pitch concerns.
The NRL's head of football Graham Annesley told news.com.au the league would inspect the ground as soon as possible following the latest injury.
“We will talk to the club and to the local council and schedule an inspection of the surface as soon as possible,” Annesley said.
“Clearly there could be numerous contributing factors including the weather conditions but player welfare will be a major consideration for any course of action.”