Queensland reveal plans for $32m spiritual home to help combat rising NSW dominance
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Peter Badel



Stung by the rise of the sky blue empire both on and off the field, Queensland are determined to hit back - and it all starts with embracing the cultural bedrock of Centres of Excellence.

It is the $32 million operation that will spearhead Queensland’s fightback against NSW in the State of Origin arms race.

As the Maroons attempt to avert a fourth series loss in five years, the Queensland Rugby League has hatched plans for a Centre of Excellence that would give the organisation one of the most cutting-edge headquarters in Australian sport.

News Corp has exclusively obtained images of the proposed new ‘Home of the Maroons’ - a three-storey, state-of-the-art training facility and administration building that will be a “one-stop shop” for Queensland rugby league.

“With this facility, people will know when you walk in, this is the home of the Queensland Rugby League and the mighty Maroons,” said QRL chief executive Rohan Sawyer.

Sporting giants around the world in the NFL, baseball, basketball and football are embracing the cultural bedrock of Centres of Excellence.

In Australia, AFL and NRL clubs are following suit.

Carlton and Geelong have opulent AFL set-ups, the Brisbane Broncos built their $27 million Clive Berghofer facility in 2018 and the following year, the NSW Blues opened the doors to their $20m Centre of Excellence, complete with a team walkway linking their Origin home ground at Homebush.

Since the Blues constructed their sky-blue empire, NSW have taken a grip on interstate supremacy, having won two of the last three series, headlined by a record 50-6 rout of Queensland in the Origin opener last year.

Now Maroons bosses are hitting back. Determined not to be left behind, the QRL has launched a feasibility study for the construction of a $32m headquarters that would ensure the Maroons have the resources to compete with the Blues on and off the field.

The recent Brisbane floods that ravaged the budding Olympic city - inflicting $500,000 in damage on the QRL’s existing office opposite Suncorp Stadium - has only heightened the need for a new spiritual home.

The Centre of Excellence would be ‘an asset for Queenslanders’.
The Centre of Excellence would be ‘an asset for Queenslanders’.
The Centre of Excellence be based at the Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre at Nathan.
The Centre of Excellence be based at the Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre at Nathan.
“We are looking at creating a high-performance facility that is the home of the Maroons and an asset for all Queenslanders,” Sawyer said.

“Where our home is currently based near Suncorp Stadium, we are just an office building, we don’t have anything from a football-facilities perspective.

“We are trying to create a home that can be basically a one-stop shop - an administration base and a rugby league education facility, focused on our male and female Origin teams and bringing the Maroons into one location during the Origin series to train and prepare.

“It would be a huge shot in the arm for Queensland Rugby League. It creates a strong centralised home in what will be one of Australia’s biggest sports hubs come the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane.”

The Maroons’ numerical disadvantage compared to NSW underlines why the Queensland Rugby League cannot afford to regress, burdened by archaic infrastructure.

Of the NRL’s 480 registered full-time players this season, just 99 are eligible for Queensland.

“In terms of eligibility (for Origin), Queensland has 20 per cent of the NRL, while NSW has 40 per cent. They have twice as many players to choose from,” Sawyer said.

The facilities would be state-of-the-art.
The facilities would be state-of-the-art.
“It’s vital we keep pace with the NSW Blues. We are already disadvantaged when it comes to representation numbers.

“So it’s important we have the resources and facilities to develop our next wave of players.

“Because we have a smaller base to choose from, whatever we can do to improve our players through high-performance can only be a positive thing.”

The future Maroons HQ is slated to be based at the Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre (QSAC) at Nathan, the site of the 1982 Commonwealth Games and one-time home of the Brisbane Broncos between 1993-2002.

An existing grandstand would be demolished to make way for the QRL’s proposed Centre of Excellence.

The project includes a 660sqm indoor field, a full-size outdoor NRL field inside QSAC’s existing 10-lane athletics track, physio and medical examination rooms, premium changerooms for the Origin teams and open-plan offices and boardrooms for administration staff.

Queensland’s men’s and women’s teams would have access to the world-class gymnasium facilities and hydrotherapy pools currently used by Australia’s Olympic and Commonwealth Games athletes.



“We’re hoping to start to work on the Centre of Excellence this year and we’re aiming for an 18-month timeframe, so ideally we’d have it ready to go for State of Origin in 2024,” Sawyer said.

“As we push towards the Brisbane Olympics in 2032, it will be the biggest sports hub in Queensland and we’d love to be the professional sport out there supporting it.

“The NSW Origin side has their own headquarters. We’ve had a 10-year relationship with the Queensland Academy of Sport, so we can be positioned perfectly in a sporting hub where we can access world-class facilities and the best physios and sports scientists.

“All our Queensland junior age teams would also use the facility.



“We would be granted the existing land to build the facility and we are now in negotiations with the Federal and State governments to help secure funding for construction.

“The QRL and NRL have contributed $1 million so far to kick the project off and we’re looking for State and Federal funding to complete the project.

“This is the way of the future for Australian sporting teams. Nearly every NRL team will have a set-up like this and I’ve spent a bit of time having a look at a few of the AFL clubs, I went to Carlton a few weeks ago to have a look at their set-up.

“It is a chance for the QRL to create a cultural fit between administration and high-performance.

“There may be 17 players that take the field for an Origin game, but there are 100 staff that sit behind in the background making it all happen. Once you get that connection, you create a powerful culture for your business.



“At the end of the day, we want Origin to be the most competitive it can be. Origin is built on rivalry and making sure both teams are at their best.

“If NSW are doing things to get an advantage, Queensland have to push hard to continue to take the Blues on.”