Optus Stadium boss Mike McKenna reveals reason for patchy surface after long, dry autumn

Optus Stadium chief executive Mike McKenna is confident the ground surface can hold up for a busy few months this winter despite the winter grass not coming on as well as hoped. The state’s premier sporting venue is set to have plenty of traffic this winter with regular AFL games as well as a clash between AC Milan and AS Roma later this month, while the Wallabies take on South Africa in August. There were some concerns around the surface earlier this year when several players slipped over unexpectedly in Walyalup’s (Fremantle’s) win against the Western Bulldogs in round seven. Optus Stadium has continued to have plenty of traffic in recent weeks with AFL games as well as the WAFL men’s and women’s state games. McKenna said he had no fears that the playing surface would be able to handle the number of big events in the coming weeks. “There’s a bit of a myth around the surface. We always have a bit of a challenge every year going from the summer grass to the winter grass,” McKenna said. “And because we’ve had such a long, warm and dry autumn the rye grass which we rely on for footy hasn’t had time to germinate as well as we would’ve liked. “It’s a climate problem we have in Perth because of our fantastic weather but it’s going to get better and better as the season goes on. “And the rain is not an issue because it drains extremely well.” While Optus Stadium has plenty of AFL games during the season it could be increased by 50 per cent with calls for a third team to be introduced into WA as part of the league’s expansion. McKenna said the stadium could handle an extra 11 games a year and more if called upon to do so with an extra team. “That’s a decision for the AFL and the government to work on but we’re here to put on events of all kinds and the stadium is perfectly capable of managing that load,” he said. “In many weekends in the past we’ve put on triple headers and during COVID we had those hubs where we put on many games in a short period of time. “The ground is well designed to handle a lot of different types of conditions and quantity of events. So we’re confident if that ends up being the case.”