Melbourne Rebels are seething after losing star backrower Richard Hardwick to a possible season-ending injury caused by the poor surface at their training ground, which they share with the Melbourne Storm.
The NRL club is also upset about the state of the surface of Gosch's Paddock, which is located adjacent to AAMI Park and considering alternative training venues.
The Super Rugby Pacific club already has Wallabies players Rob Leota (Achilles), Matt Philip (knee), Andrew Kellaway (foot) and Reece Hodge (finger) sidelined, with Namibian World Cup hopeful Hardwick suffering a calf tear that is expected to see him out for at least eight weeks.
Rebels boss Baden Stephenson said Hardwick caught his foot in the loose ground on Tuesday.
"It's an eight week-plus injury which is diabolical for him and for the club," Stephenson told AAP.
"He had one foot on the grass and one foot in the dirt and went to take off and the dirt picked up and it looked like he got shot and his calf went.
"We've already got four Wallabies out injured and Hardwick's been our best player through the first four rounds but there are other ramifications, with him hoping to play in the World Cup."
He said the Storm, through football manager Frank Ponissi, had presented a united front to Melbourne Olympic Parks Trust (MOPT) who manage the ground, for the past two months with little progress.
"We haven't seen a lot of response," Stephenson said.
"We've been told that there's a shortage of turf following a whole heap of concerts and some stadiums needed to be almost fully returfed.
"They're hoping to get more but I've asked for a timeline of when that will happen.
"It's not acceptable, it's not high performance, and it's disappointing because this injury could have been avoided."
