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'Blokes were on skates': Johns critical of CommBank Stadium surface
Nicholas Quinlan • August 15th, 2025 1:27 pm
Matty Johns has called out the playing surface at CommBank Stadium following Thursday night’s thrilling clash between the Penrith Panthers and Melbourne Storm.
It was a close match throughout the 80 minutes, with the game going into golden point. From there, Storm captain Harry Grant sold a dummy, which left the try line wide open to secure a 22-18 win.
But on SEN’s Morning Glory with Matty Johns, the 1997 premiership player noticed how much the players, regardless of their boot moulds, struggled getting traction on the turf throughout the match.
“I’ll tell you what and not to bash up CommBank Stadium,” Johns said.
“But this year, players have just been on skates there.
“And I saw Nathan (Cleary) sometimes battling away, and why I’m saying Nathan is for the very fact that when I watched the game I go, ‘Oh mate, too many of these blokes… they’re wearing moulded soles’.
“But actually, Nathan wears the long screw-ins. So even blokes who were wearing the screw-ins were on skates around the place.”
Denan Kemp would agreed with Johns, wondering how we have gotten so many subpar surfaces despite spending millions of dollars on them. He also noticed that the conditions also affected the ability of how both teams played.
“You could see even when the centres get a little bit of space, there was not big cuts of angles because they knew if they tried to build a big cut, they were going to completely fall over,” Kemp added.
“But we’ve got to do something about these grounds.
“I can’t believe we spend hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars, but we can’t get the grass right.
“Like what are we talking about?”
CommBank Stadium is now the latest Venues NSW owned stadium to have concerns raised about its surface.
The SCG, following an Andrea Bocelli concert in March, has seen its turf towards the Paddington End come under fire following multiple Swans games.
Allianz Stadium, which was opened in 2022, has also had similar issues with its playing turf.
After these incidents, Venues NSW is currently in the process of making a report about the turf issue in relation to Allianz Stadium.
This has already seen officials brace for the worst, which would see the venue closed over the summer.
If it were to be closed over the summer, it would mainly affect A-League club Sydney FC, as they would be unable to play their home games at the venue.
The report and decision are expected to be released in the coming weeks.
Scott Sattler on Jett Cleary | Sport Nation Mornings
