In summary, Kellyville is now home to Parramatta’s new center of excellence. With an area of 11 hectares, the $70 million complex is the biggest of its sort in rugby league. With an arena that can accommodate more than 4,000 people, the club hopes to host NRLW games in the future.
The Eels opened the biggest rugby league facility of its kind on Thursday morning, marking the official opening of Parramatta’s center of excellence in Kellyville. Five full-size rugby league fields, a community center, an indoor training facility, a gym and infrared sauna, rehabilitation pools, the club’s offices, and NRLW-standard match facilities with a 5,000 capacity are all part of the $70 million, 11-hectare site. In contrast to the Old Saleyards, which served as the club’s training base before CEO Jim Sarantinos joined the organization in 2016, the location is Australia’s first fully integrated NRL and NRLW training complex.
The ice baths were outside on the balcony, the gym was divided among three tiny demountable modulars, and the first room I entered was a team conference area. However, the seats were Bunnings plastic chairs, and they were so tight that players were slipping and sliding off them,” Sarantinos remarked. “The players and coaches deserve praise for never using it as a reason for poor performance, but eventually it does affect things. With funding from the NSW and federal governments, the Hills Shire Council, and the Parramatta Leagues club, the Eels conducted a thorough search for professional sports venues, visiting NFL and Premier League venues to refine the facility’s architecture.
A particular emphasis was also placed on incorporating the club’s past. In honor of the bus coach that Jack Gibson utilized as a gathering spot during the club’s 1980s premiership years, the theater space is called Jack’s Bus. To give the new building a genuine blue and gold feel, former Eels from those premiership teams, including Brett Kenny, Peter Sterling, Peter Wynn, Mick Cronin, Eric Grothe, and Ray Price, all contributed memorabilia to the club. “We brought a number of players along for tours at different stages of the build and the biggest thing they were blown away by was just the size and the scale, particularly compared to the facilities that we were operating in,” Sarantinos stated.
We picked up a lot of ideas from looking at facilities in Australia, the US and Europe as well.
“When you’re going overseas, you’re dealing with organisations that are on a different scale from a financial perspective, but it is about picking up things, different ideas that can be applied in our context.”
The accompanying community centre and grandstand will allow the Eels to play NSW Cup, junior representative and NRLW trial games at the venue.
Sarantinos is hopeful the club could also host NRLW competition games in the future.
“Once we set the facility up and we’re up and running we’ll be able to have the capacity to accommodate somewhere between 3,000 to 4,000 people for a game,” he said.
“Obviously, we’d love for the NRLW to grow where facilities like this are too small to accommodate NRLW games, but whilst we’re still going on that growth trajectory … there’s no reason why our facility wouldn’t be able to accommodate games.”
