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THE NRL has robbed Parramatta and Penrith fans of one of western Sydney's biggest rugby league derbies — by scheduling the game nearly 4000km away in the Northern Territory.
As the two powerhouse clubs round out their pre-seasons with a trial at Penrith's Pepper Stadium on Saturday night, their fans will have to travel a lot further if they want to see the grudge match in round 22.
Parramatta are in the second year of a four-year-agreement with the Northern Territory government to play one game in Darwin each year.
Eels chief executive Scott Seward on Tuesday night said while he had nominated their round 22 'home' fixture — scheduled for the weekend of August 8-9 — to be played up north, it was the NRL who decided to draw them against Penrith.
It's a slap in the face for the supporters who live in the game's spiritual heartland.
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The Eels would have preferred to play a team like Canberra, whom they met last year, or Melbourne, another club not used to stifling heat.
An NRL spokesman said Parramatta did have the option to submit an alternative weekend, and Eels officials didn't seem too concerned when informed Penrith would be the team sent north.
"If you had asked me to nominate three clubs we wanted to play, Penrith wouldn't have been on that list," Seward told The Daily Telegraph.
NRL TEAMS FOR WEEKEND GAMES
"It was important we got the weekend we got because it suited the NT Government and it suited us. That was the most important thing.
"We nominated the dates to play a game in Darwin, but it was the NRL who scheduled who we played.
"Would it have been the game I'd take up there? Probably not, but it certainly wouldn't have been off-limits to us."
Stars like Josh Mansour and Chris Sandow won't get to clash in a Sydney stadium for a local derby in 2015. Source: News Corp Australia
Seward said despite the long rivalry with the Panthers, the derbies often pulled a mediocre crowd at Parramatta, compared to the good roll-ups at the foot of the mountains.
Last year's game attracted just 14,500, less than the attendance for matches against Souths, the Roosters, Manly, Newcastle and St George Illawarra.
However, TIO Stadium in Darwin has a capacity of around 10,000, and the local juniors in Parramatta and Penrith won't get the chance to see their local heroes.
The NRL's oversight gives the AFL a free hit, with the GWS Giants scheduled to play Essendon at Spotless Stadium that same weekend. Essendon have one of the biggest supporter bases in the game.
The Western Sydney Wanderers have refused to take their local A-League derby with Sydney FC up the road to ANZ Stadium, let alone entertain shifting their big duels interstate.
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