The NRL really only had one decision they could have taken for the Cronulla Sharks home elimination final this weekend.
In a sport where crowds and TV ratings have been up, finals can not be played at a construction site with a capacity of 13,000, give or take.
It's not good for TV. It's not good for fans.
Yes, the Sharks lose their home ground advantage, but tough. The world isn't fair.
It was really always going to be the way when the NRL took back control of their stadium policy for the finals at the start of the year.
The Sharks, and potentially a few other clubs playing out of suburban grounds, were going to be at a disadvantage.
The NRL are probably in some ways lucky the Sharks were the only club who were looking to host out a small ground in Sydney.
There could have been a very tricky conversation and narrative to try and spin if, for example, Manly, the Dragons, or the Tigers were also hosting this weekend with their larger, albeit still small, suburban stadiums in the surrounds of Sydney's giants.
That hasn't happened, but even then, with the NRL in control of their stadium policy, there could well have been an argument that said the Penrith Panthers and Sydney Roosters, two of Sydney's biggest clubs, probably shouldn't be playing at Parramatta's CommBank Stadium.
Full control for the NRL would have enabled them to take charge of that and force the Panthers to move up the road to Homebush where they could have packed more than 30,000 in - and if Panthers and Roosters fans are serious on Sunday afternoon, they should be, too.
A chance for a week off, after a successful season, for two clubs who have swelling fan bases - as much as you might want to make jokes about the Roosters lack of fans, there is no doubt there crowds have been strong since moving in to the new Sydney Football Stadium.
Alas, the NRL didn't make that call though and the game will proceed with a maximum audience of around 30,000.
There is also now talk that the New Zealand Warriors will be forced to move their next home final - whether that be a Week 2 semi-final or a Week 3 preliminary final - across town to Eden Park which holds about 17,000 more fans than Mt Smart Stadium.
The Warriors don't want to play away from their spiritual home, but Cameron George is well aware it will be difficult to keep the NRL happy hosting the game at Mt Smart.
But in that lies the issue.
The ambiguity. The NRL's ability to seemingly change things on a whim a week out from the game.
The Sharks, by all reports, only found out on Sunday - hours before the fixtures dropped - that their request to host a game in the Shire - would be knocked back.
What actually should be happening is parameters being set in the off-season.
Exactly what those parameters are is up for debate, but for arguments sake, the NRL could tell clubs in February that Week 1 of the finals, for clubs with bigger options in a major city, must have at least 20,000 seats, that Week 2 have 30,000 seats, and so on.
It's not rocket science to simply tell people what's happening in the pre-season, but the ball has been dropped in doing so, which creates the scenes over the last week where Sharks fans are now openly threatening to boycott the trip to Moore Park on Saturday evening.
What it would also allow the clubs to do is be realistic in expectations with their fans.
The Sharks, for example, could either get their constructions finished to reopen their stadium at maximum capacity, or inform the NRL, and by extension, their fans, early of exactly what's happening, with options in case their chosen venue belongs to their opposition.
Maybe they take a Week 1 game to Kogarah where you can get 20,000 fans in, or even look down the motorway to Wollongong where they could have more of a home ground advantage than any other club.
With a hard and fast parameter on what number of fans need to be allowed to attend though, it takes the guess work, and by extension, the emotional reaction of not only fans, but players too, out of it.
Addin Fonua-Blake has already said it was a tough pill to swallow, seeing the final shifted from Cronulla to the city.
And it's hard to blame him.
It's just not hard to understand why the NRL have done what they have done.
You can only hope the learnings mean it will be dealt with better next year.
