The grass is always greener when you lay it yourself?
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At the very least the Canberra Raiders proved their links to grassroots football when they put their staff and families to work laying the turf at their new centre of excellence on Tuesday.
No one is exempt from manual labour, with Raiders chief executive Don Furner and coach Ricky Stuart both putting in shifts to covering the 17,000 square metres of grass.
They made it a family affair, with Furner bringing along his son Ryan, Stuart recruiting son Jackson and Raiders football manager Matt Ford enlisting son Lachlan.
It will be finished Friday and take about six to eight weeks to be ready for use.
That means the Green Machine could be training on it before the start of the NRL season, which will kick off against the Gold Coast Titans at Canberra Stadium on March 13.
If not, they'll continue training at their current base at Braddon until it's ready.
Furner said they would officially open the centre on March 6 at their 2020 season launch.
"They're bringing the turf in from Adelaide in refrigerated trucks," he said.
"Two trucks are here today and tomorrow, and then Thursday two more trucks arrive.
"We all want to do it ... just to be able to say that we laid the turf. It's something unique.
"The reality was because of the timing of when it was laid we couldn't get the staff anyway.
"We were going to get the under-20s players - that's what we did out at West Belconnen.
"A bit of it was necessity, in terms of finding the staff to be able to do it."
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Even the fact it was Stuart's birthday didn't stop his boss and best mate dragging him out to do some manual labour.
"That's the sort of boss I am - I make him work on his birthday," Furner said with a laugh.
All the work was done under the expert supervision of Pitchcraft general manager Mat Woolfe.
They've trucked the specialist sports turf across from Adelaide and have also worked on Canberra Stadium, Viking Park and the AIS.
"We're just upgrading the irrigation system, surface levels and new turf," Woolfe said.
"Approximately 700 rolls to come in here, 17,000 square metres.
"Santa Ana couch grass that'll be oversewn with ryegrass for the winter, but we're installing a drought tolerant grass for the summer months in the Canberra climate.
"It's good to see a few father-son combos. It's nice.
"The surface will take four days to lay, so we'll be completed by Friday and then an establishment period of six to eight weeks.
"And hope to have the Raiders on here for their opening and if not shortly after."