Dragons change home venue
allocation

An event clash at WIN Stadium, Wollongong on the weekend of Round 16 of the Telstra Premiership has forced the St George Illawarra Dragons to change their original home-game venue split for the 2005 season.

The change does not alter the number of home games scheduled for both WIN Stadium (7 games) and Oki Jubilee (5 games), instead it is a change of venues between the Round 14 and Round 16 matches.

The Dragons were scheduled to play the West Tigers at WIN Stadium in Round 16 (June 24-26), however this match will now be played at Oki Jubilee Stadium while the clash against the Cowboys in Round 14 (June 10-12), originally scheduled for Kogarah, will be played at WIN Stadium.

Moving the Round 16 clash against the Tigers to Oki Jubilee is sure to impress Sydney fans as last year this same match set a ground record of 16, 915, while the high flying Cowboys are sure to attract a healthy crowd when they play in Wollongong.

?Our home game program is always difficult to manage given the usage of the precinct at WIN Stadium and even more so this year with the upgrade works at Oki Jubilee Stadium,? said Dragons Chief Executive Officer Peter Doust.

?The unavailability of specific venue facilities due to another event being held at WIN Stadium in Round 16 would prevent us from hosting a comfortable event for our fans, Doust added. ?On balance we believe we have come up with the best outcome for everybody given the circumstances?.

In 2005, the Dragons will host the Storm in their first home game at WIN Stadium in round 2 followed by the Eagles (rnd 5), Broncos (rnd 6), Rabbits (rnd 9), Warriors (rnd13), Cowboys (rnd14) and Roosters (rnd 21).

Round 10 will see the first game at Oki Jubilee Stadium for the 2005 season against the Panthers followed by the West Tigers (rnd14), Sharks (rnd 20), Eels (rnd 24) and Knights (rnd 26).

The Dragons also plan to continue to honor the ?Heritage? traditions in both key communities throughout the season with the clash against the Broncos in Round 6 at WIN Stadium and also the clash against the Eels as part of the NRL?s 70?s week promotion at Oki Jubilee in Round 24.