Peter V’landys says he’s disappointed with the crowds for the opening round of the finals but spruiked a 9000 fan increase compared with last year as he also provided a sobering reality check to Sharks supporters hoping to see their team play at Ocean Protect Stadium in the future.

Almost 94,000 fans turned up for the four matches last weekend compared with roughly 85,000 who attended the first week of the 2025 finals series.

Those figures were helped by having two games at Allianz Stadium. which has a bigger capacity than last year’s venues, while an extra 1600 fans went to the game in Auckland compared with the 2025 match at the same venue.

“We had 9000 more people this finals series than we did last year,” V’landys told the NewsWire.

“There are a lot of people that get on a bandwagon, and when the rugby league train gets moving, it gets moving very fast in one direction, and sometimes it goes backwards instead of forwards.

“Naturally, I was disappointed (with the crowds) because you want more, and they were two fantastic games (at Allianz).

“But there were still 9000 more than last year. I think it was the right decision to go to Allianz Stadium. It shows the game in a professional manner, and there were a lot of Sharks fans there, and I think they enjoyed the night.”

The most fascinating crowd figure was always going to be the game in Moore Park between the Sharks and Cowboys after the NRL decided to play it there rather than in the Shire.

Only 17,429 people turned up to the precinct, with all 15,000 seats at Ocean Protect Stadium to have sold out quickly if the game had been played there.

V’landys hasn’t ruled out week one finals being played at suburban grounds in the future but made it clear that Shark Park needed a major facelift to be considered.

“There are always negotiations moving forward,” he said.

“I’m a big fan of suburban stadiums; I always have been and always will be, but they have to be at a certain standard, especially for finals series.

“We are a professional sport – we’re a billion-dollar sport – and we have to be shown that way. We can’t be looking at a construction site in our semi-finals, we can’t have portaloos as our toilets. I don’t think we had an option but to go to Allianz.

“We’ll assist the Sharks club in improving their ground, but at the moment, it’s not finals standard.”

The stadium debate will continue this week with the Warriors playing at Eden Park for the first time in 12 years as they chase a record crowd for their game against Newcastle.

Meanwhile, V’landys addressed the proposed third v fourth playoff in grand final week that received little support from players who questioned whether anyone would mentally or physically commit to an extra game.

“Nothing’s off the table; everything’s on the table,” he said.

“What it has done is just generated ideas, and that’s what we need as a game. We’re a team. There’s not one person who has a monopoly of ideas.

“That was floated at the club CEO meetings, and I embraced it because I love thinking outside the square, so we moved forward with it and had discussions.”

Originally published as ‘We can’t have portaloos as our toilets’: PVL issues reality check to NRL venue as he defends poor finals crowds