By Nick Creely

Suncorp Stadium head ground manager Matthew Oliver has had his hands full as he prepares for the NRL’s Magic Round from April 2-4.

Just days before the NRL teams converge on the stadium (pictured right) for eight matches this weekend, and a total of nine including the women’s Origin opener played on Thursday night, Oliver and his team tore up and re-laid around half the playing surface (three and a half thousand square metres) after an influx of sporting events across the recent Anzac Day long weekend.

The Brisbane-based stadium hosted an NRL match on the Thursday, Super Rugby on the Friday and then an A-League match on the Saturday. Months of wet weather in south-east Queensland has also not helped the overall condition of the playing surface.

But Oliver said the stadium would be in pristine condition for the blockbuster round of NRL matches with his usual crew of four, plus a few casuals across the weekend working tirelessly.

“It’s by far our biggest week of the year with nine matches across the four days in total. It’d be the biggest test a stadium can face worldwide,” he said.

“We’ve had 23 events this year and a lot of that played through extreme wet weather hence why we’ve replaced half the field leading into Magic Round.

“Some would say it’s a risk but I would say it’s a very positive move for the amount of content we’re bracing to receive. We can only control the controllables and you can’t control things like the weather.

“But from a field perspective we’re trying to run the field as dry and as firm as possible. Essentially we want the games to be played when they’re dry so we know the field will perform really well across the weekend.”

Oliver said the process of re-laying the turf was necessary considering the wear and tear on the playing surface.

“It’s probably been an added stress I didn’t need this week but compounding the effect of wet weather and constant events basically meant we had to expand our replacement before Magic Round,” he said.

“It was meant to be a few hundred square metres but now it’s out to 3600 square  metres which is just over half the rugby league field.

“It’s a hands-off week in a way and we know it’s (the surface) going to be get a huge test on the weekend so the other parts have had a good rest.”

NRL Magic Round schedule

Friday May 2

Sharks v Eels – 6pm

Roosters v Dolphins – 8.05pm

Saturday May 3

Rabbitohs v Knights – 3pm

Warriors v Cowboys – 5.30pm

Wests Tigers v Dragons – 7.45pm

Sunday May 4

Titans v Bulldogs – 1.50pm

Panthers v Broncos – 4.05pm

Storm v Raiders – 6.25pm

Photos: provided by Matthew Oliver at Suncorp Stadium