It was the scene of a mud-based war, with many observers fearing Thomas Gibson Park will be out of action for weeks after Saturday's epic between Thirroul and Collegians.
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The Butchers, however, are confident the field will be ready for their next first grade home game on June 4.
Such a recovery would mark a remarkable turnaround after the ground was left resembling a pig sty after six games of football were played on Saturday.
The pitch was a giant pool of mud before the first-grade match had even commenced and it only deteriorated as Thirroul and Collegians slogged it out in awful conditions. The Butchers ultimately prevailed 2-0 in the bog.
It's perhaps fitting, then, that club officials are crediting Sunday night's rain for aiding the recovery process.
"With a bit of rain, it washed off a fair bit of surface mud, you can see some green now," Thirroul president Brett Jones said. "It looked a lot worse with players running around covered in mud, but the ground is definitely not ruined.
It looked a lot worse with players running around covered in mud.
- Brett Jones
"It's likely going to rain all this week, so they would have closed the ground even if we did not play. We're hopeful the rain will clear at the end of the week and then we will liaise with council about what action we can take.
"We're hopeful it will be ready for the Cronulla Caringbah game (on June 4). We'll just have to talk to council and come up with a plan."
Gibson Park was one of a host of sporting grounds to turn to mud over the weekend, the lasting effects of weeks of rain combining with an untimely downpour to make for a perfect storm.
Again, optimism is high that there was minimal long-term damage, however there are concerns of the impact of rain forecast over the coming days.
Working in Illawarra League officials favour is the upcoming schedule, with most grounds used last weekend not required for this week's Illawarra Cup matches.
Thirroul, in particular, will enjoy quite the turnaround in playing surfaces. From the mud at Gibson Park, the Butchers are slated to play De La Salle on the pristine grass at Pointsbet Stadium as a curtain raiser for the Sharks clash with the Roosters on Saturday night.
Illawarra Rugby League general manager Nigel Roy is hopeful fields will be ready for this weekend, but he recognises the weather gods will have the final say.
"The delicate balance as a sport we're trying to get right is getting games happening, but understanding the restrictions with the weather," Roy said.
"Each weekend is treated on its own merits. Each weekend is treated with the weather and the current underlying conditions of the facility in mind. Impact from a previous weekend may play a part, but in terms of decision making, they're made each week.
"We can't change the weather. If the rain comes like we're expecting it to, we'll wait until later in the week before a determination is made for this weekend."
Down south, Group Seven operations manager Ashton Sims was thrilled to see almost a full round of football proceed.
Some grounds took the brunt of the impact, with the league fields at Croome Road cut up and at risk of not recovering in time for this weekend's fixtures.
For the most part, however, Sims is confident the bulk of venues will be fit for purpose on Saturday.
"We're indebted to the clubs who hosted games on the weekend," Sims said.
"They know the importance of rugby league in the community. The players had some fun in the mud, there were dirty jerseys and dirty faces, but plenty of smiles.
"We have a couple of grounds we're looking at closely this week and we might have to be flexible with the draw. We don't want to cancel games. If it means reaching out to clubs to see if they can host other teams, it's something we'll explore.
"It's not something we've done in the past, but we've never had this kind of rain, it's unprecedented. It's frustrating from an administrator's point of view, I can only imagine what it's like for the players and clubs."
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