League: Mt Smart v Eden Park a seating issue

Jerome Ropati. Photo / Getty Images

It's purely hypothetical at the moment, however if the Warriors earn a home NRL final it appears the match will be played at Eden Park.

Given rugby stronghold's unbroken run as a graveyard for New Zealand league teams - be it the Kiwis or Warriors - that news is likely to raise the hackles of some Warriors fans.

Warriors chief executive Wayne Scurrah insisted no discussions about the likely venue for finals matches had taken place, however he conceded the club did have concerns about seating capacity at Mt Smart Stadium that had been lowered to 19,000.

The club's traditional home has seated around 27,000 for previous finals matches thanks to temporary seating. However, Regional Facilities Auckland - the body that runs the region's stadiums - has informed the Warriors it will not meet the costs of erecting temporary seating in the future.

That ruling effectively limits Mt Smart's capacity to 19,000 seats plus room for around another 5000 spectators to either stand or sit on grass at the northern end. With this year's season-opener against Manly attracting a crowd of over 37,000 to Eden Park, the restricted capacity at Mt Smart is likely to be viewed as insufficient by both the Warriors and the NRL.

Both parties would stand to make significantly more money from finals matches at Eden Park. Although the NRL pockets all ticket sales revenue from finals, the Warriors would benefit from increased commercial opportunities around corporate hosting, merchandising and catering.

"We haven't even considered it," Scurrah said of the likely switch. "We are not even in the top eight at the moment so we are focusing on winning games, not where we play finals."

Scurrah did, however, accept that the limited capacity at Mt Smart Stadium made it a marginal proposition for finals matches.

•Off-contract Manly centre Steve Matai is not on the Warriors' radar. They tried to sign the Kiwis hard man for the start of the 2010 season - even flying him to Auckland to show him around the club - however Scurrah insisted there would be no new approach. Matai, who turns 28 in August, is likely considered too injury and suspension prone to be worth a major contract. "He's a name we have often thought about, but I can confirm he is not on our radar," Scurrah said.