The cobwebs are being dusted off plans to rejuvenate Manly's dilapidated Brookvale base into a sparkling 20,000-seater stadium as the Sea Eagles loom as the biggest beneficiary of Peter V'landys' push for up to four "mini-Bankwest Stadiums" to be built in Sydney.
Manly chief executive Stephen Humphreys confirmed the club is already sitting on designs for a total revamp of the famous northern beaches ground, which could be the first built under V'landys' suburban dream.
The Australian Rugby League Commission boss confirmed on Monday the code would campaign for three, potentially four, boutique grounds, to be modelled on the $360 million Bankwest Stadium, lauded as the best rugby league viewing experience in the country.
V'landys will meet with the NSW government later this week after Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced on Sunday she had scrapped the $810 million redevelopment of ANZ Stadium in favour of job creation programs.
Rugby league's most powerful administrator wants to divert the money to suburban grounds, which would be razed and rebuilt entirely rather than redeveloped. They would each have a capacity of up to 20,000.
Manly's Lottoland, Netstrata Jubilee Stadium at Kogarah, Campbelltown Stadium and Penrith's home base are in line for overhauls if the ANZ Stadium money can be diverted into multi-use suburban venues.
If we can get little Bankwest Stadiums in four different locations in Sydney, then they become that community's venue
Peter V'landys
"Bankwest Stadium is the best stadium to watch the game," V'landys said. "If we can get little Bankwest Stadiums in four different locations in Sydney, then they become that community's venue. That generates tribalism and it also provides so many uses for that facility.
"Why not knock them over and start them again and build them like a smaller scale version of Bankwest? It will rejuvenate the tribalism in our game and have people wanting to go to the ground. Tribalism is so important for the game. If you have these boutique five-star stadiums like Bankwest you're on a winner."
The sentiment is music to the ears of long-suffering Manly fans, whose ground has been run down and was the subject of an asbestos scare last year before the elimination final against Cronulla.
Excavation planning was underway for the club's new centre of excellence and modern grandstand on the northern hill which prompted the asbestos finding. The project is in the final stages of planning and needs tick off from a state government independent planning panel.
Manly's Lottoland stadium is one of four venues set to be prioritised by the NRL following the NSW government's backdown on the ANZ Stadium rebuild.
But there could be a bigger reward for the club, which has mothballed a larger master plan for the redevelopment of Lottoland pending funding - which now could become available - and approval of the development application.
"We do have what I would call a master plan that would bring a stadium of about 20,000 capacity with all the comfort and convenience a modern stadium can bring," Humphreys said.