AFL Team Re-Distribution

[Gregmond]

Leaving out the passion and tradition of our fine game, I sometimes wonder how the Australian Football League could be redesigned to become truly "national".

Clearly there are too many teams in Melbourne, and so I would like to see your suggestions of new teams or team relocations that would share the load (and retain a 16-club competition).

Here's a couple from me:

Kangaroos --> Canberra Roos

Western Bulldogs --> West Sydney Bulldogs

Hawthorn --> Hobart Hawks

Nothing Earth-shattering I realise, but now we have teams in 2 additional cities, and a somewhat more manageable 6 Melbourne clubs + Geelong.

Would it be going to far to continue along this line and suggest Southport Saints?

SA: Adelaide Crows, Port Adelaide Power

WA: Perth Eagles (it's time to drop "West Coast") & Fremantle Dockers

NSW: Sydney Swans & West Sydney Bulldogs

ACT: Canberra Roos

QLD: Brisbane Lions & Southport Saints

TAS: Hobart Hawks

VIC: Carlton Blues, Collingwood Magpies, Essendon Bombers, Melbourne Demons, Richmond Tigers, & Geelong Cats

Cheers,

Greg

[Gregmond]

Sorry Aussie, I moved your Saints to the Gold Coast. I did consider merging them with one of the other Dockland tennants, and granting Southport their own licence (the Sharks), but Southport Saints seemed to roll off the tongue!

Greg

[Alphabet Man]

Sorry Aussie, I moved your Saints to the Gold Coast. I did consider merging them with one of the other Dockland tennants, and granting Southport their own licence (the Sharks), but Southport Saints seemed to roll off the tongue!

Greg

you complete f..............

my way of making it more national:

Kangaroos > Canberra Kangaroos

Hawthorn > Launceston Hawks

Melbourne > Southport or Newcastle

Footscray > Darwin Bulldogs

That leaves it:

WA- WCE, FRE

SA- ADEL, PORT

NSW- SYD and possibly NEW

ACT- CAN

TAS- LAUN

NT- DAR

QLD- SOUT, BRIS

VIC- everyone else

[jr79]

I can't see the Eagles dropping the West Coast name anytime soon. It just rolls off the tongue so well.

The heart would be ripped out of the AFL if too many changes were made to the Melbourne clubs. They have to be allowed to either die through natural attrition and be replaced with new teams in new markets, or move of their own volition.

Its a no-brainer that the Kangas will settle on a new home in Canberra within 5 years if upgrades happen at Manuka Oval.

I think the Bulldogs will die rather than move, they seem to be dug in. It's one of the Bulldogs/Melbourne/Hawthorn who'll be next to go. I'd be sad to see a club with a winning tradition like Melbourne (ok so its a long time ago) or Hawthorn move. But then again my team moved from South Melbourne to bigger and better things so who am I to talk

I am not sure that the Gold Coast can support an AFL team. Every professional sporting team to try their luck there has died, and with the exception of the last incarnation of their rugby league team it was financial in nature. Darwin's population is just too small to support a team sadly. I do think Tasmania as a whole could support a team if they rotated their home games between Hobart and Launceston to keep interest up, and increase demand for tickets. (Would this work though?)

Do you think perhaps Adelaide could support 3 teams or would that be stretching it a little? The fans do seem very divided into 2 distinct groups... those who used to support Port in the SANFL and those who loathed them

[rmered]

I don't want to come across like the bad guy here, but none of this is going to happen.

Canberra, Western Sydney, Tassie and Darwin have all been evaluated and have been found incapable of supporting a team, Southport could probably support a team because their Social Club makes money, irrespective of how badly their footy team do.

So for all that, one team can move interstate successfully, and that because old people plug coins through pokie machines, and like to watch Gene Pitney impersonators while eating $10 all you can eat buffets.

[plattopus]

Assuming we're talking about what the league will look like in 50 years, then yeah I reckon it's a possibility that it'll look similar to that. But there's a LOT of development work for the AFL to do before any team can move to another city.

But I personally believe that the Kangaroos will definitely be the next team to relocate, and at the moment I'd say the front-runner for the new city would be Canberra, simply for the fact that they are developing a following up there already. As for how long it will be before this happens, I couldn't say... it depends on how long the AFL want to support the Kangaroos and their money-losing ways.

As for the other cities... Sydney will not have another team in it for decades as far as I'm concerned. The line between success and failure that the Swans are treading on is extremely fine... another team will completely obliterate the dynamic they have going up there. It will take many years and many premierships before Sydney as a market is robust enough to support two teams. And if (as I suggest) the Kangaroos move to Canberra, it would push back a second Sydney team even further... so it all depends on what happens with other things as well.

Darwin, Tasmania and the Gold Coast keep being brought up in these discussions, but I don't see how they would handle an AFL club. Tasmania barely has a big enough population, so any team based down there would be inherently disadvantaged much like the Kangaroos and Bulldogs are currently. I'm pretty sure the AFL wants to get away from gamble markets... so Tassie is off the cards for a while until the Melbourne area loses 3 or 4 teams. Darwin will never be a full-blown AFL city simply because of the heat. Games played up there every week would be dangerous for the players on the Darwin team, and traveling between 30 degrees in Darwin and 10 degrees in Melbourne would be hell for the visiting teams. Also the grounds and facilities up there aren't quite up to standard yet (as can be said for Tasmania, mind you). The Gold Coast is probably the most likely out of the 3 to get a team, but a lot of work would have to be done on facilities and making sure it won't make it harder for both the Gold Coast team and the Lions to exist with some competition from their own state.

But as far as teams go... apart from the Kangaroos as I mentioned before, I think the Bulldogs are a good chance to move in the near-ish future, possibly to either the Gold Coast or somewhere else. St. Kilda have always been on the bottom-end of things in both financial and on-field respects... so they'd be another candidate for relocation.

But of course it all also depends on what happens in the future... we all know that St. Kilda would be pretty much certainties to win a flag within the next 5 years, so that could spur a bit of a surge in support meaning they really don't need to move. And the Bulldogs have Rodney Eade, who is a proven successful coach... so again, they might become a more powerful club in 10 years, taking them out of relocation discussions.

And whoever mentioned the Hawks... they are one of the more powerful clubs financially, so I don't think they'll move any time soon. They've done well to cover their arse by building some following in Tasmania, but I doubt they'll ever really have to use it.

So it's all up in the air... but I think Canberra and the Gold Coast would be the only two cities the AFL would seriously consider for an AFL club, and the Kangaroos and maybe the Bulldogs/Saints would be the next clubs to look at moving or even merging.

[-kj]

So, educate us poor Amurricans for a moment... what's the deal with the Roos? Are they no longer North Melbourne?

[DEAD!]

So, educate us poor Amurricans for a moment... what's the deal with the Roos? Are they no longer North Melbourne?

not for the last 5-6 years I believe. As for any team relocating. I only see the Kangaroos move to Canberra. I don't think Sydney needs a second team much like Melbourne doesn't need another NRL team.

[Alphabet Man]

So it's all up in the air... but I think Canberra and the Gold Coast would be the only two cities the AFL would seriously consider for an AFL club, and the Kangaroos and maybe the Bulldogs/Saints would be the next clubs to look at moving or even merging.

St Kilda, with an estimated profit of about $2million won't be moving anywhere and the home games we currently play in Launceston should be stopped after this contract....we don't need that extra money anymore....

QUOTE (Mockba @ Tuesday, September 28th, 2004 - 13:12:49)

So, educate us poor Amurricans for a moment... what's the deal with the Roos? Are they no longer North Melbourne? 

not for the last 5-6 years I believe. As for any team relocating. I only see the Kangaroos move to Canberra. I don't think Sydney needs a second team much like Melbourne doesn't need another NRL team.

In 1998 they changed because they wanted to play home games in Sydney and obviously, that failed and theyt set off camp to Canberra for a few games a year... i heard that at one stage they wanted to be known as 'Australian Kangaroos' and play home games all over Australia....

[Gregmond]

Granted some of my original suggestions are a bit "pie-in-the-sky", but I thought it was interesting to throw them out there.

Based on the planned redevelopment of the Whitten/Western Oval, I can't see the Bulldogs going anywhere - the federal government, state government, AFL and western business group have just kicked in a ton of money - they're staying.

I've heard that the Gold Coast demographic is too transient - ie. people haven't put down roots there just yet, but still give it 10 years, hell I'd happily live there! Pencil it in for mine.

As for Tassie, I like JR79's suggestion of a Tasmania team, rather than Hobart or Launcenston. I'm not sure what the grounds are like, but the ground they use for the VFL games looks as good (if not better) than Manuka in Canberra.

I think Plattopus is right about Sydney - if the wheels fall of the Swans, then the fans will depart - a la Melbourne Storm, good call.

So apart from Canberra, it sounds like we're convinced there's no movemen on the cards for a while. I can't imagine new teams going in anywhere, and unless mergers happen in Melbourne, we might be going with the existing names for a while.

Cheers,

Greg

[Alphabet Man]

Carlton- Bulldogs > blue sheilas

Melbourne-Richmond >MElbourne Tigers - already taken tho

[Gregmond]

I did actually consider a Melbourne Richmond merger, who could combine with the basketball club and become Melbourne Tigers AC, possibly put a team in the Commonwealth Bank Netball Championship as well!!!

[Alphabet Man]

NATHAN BROWN WOULD BE WELL SUITED TO PLAY FOR PHOENIX OR KESTRELS

[Gregmond]

Ease up, Nathan Brown is a gun - albeit a small gun, like those little ladies guns you might see in a purse on Remington Steele!

[Alphabet Man]

i'm thinking (when i'm a bit older, have money, a job etc) to start up a AFL USA league.... Two conferences of 6 teams and each team plays eachother in conference 4 times (2 @ home, 2 away) plus possibly 2 games against teams in the other confernece (1 home, 1away)....All-Star (east v West) after round 11... finals:

week 1

East:

1. First v 4th

2. Second v 3rd

West:

3. 1 v 4

4. 2 v 3

week 2

East

5. Winner 1 v Winner 2

West

6. winner 3 v winner 4

week 3 (grand final)

7. winner 5 v winner 6

cities would buy right to host the grand-final and all-star matches

this league would be the first fully proffesional Autralian Football league outside of Australia....

and the annual Australia v USA in October / November

(game 1 @ Adelaide; game 2 @ Subiaco, Perth; game 3 @ MCG)

ok, i've got too much time on my hands, i guess

[Gregmond]

... and unlike many of the existing US leagues, you could have teams in the geographically correct division (please!)!

How sad of me!

Cheers,

Greg

[Alphabet Man]

what you mean BOston can't go in the West conference?

[mrjolly]

what you mean BOston can't go in the West conference?

ah no....can't happen

[Alphabet Man]

what you mean BOston can't go in the West conference?

ah no....can't happen

it was a joke.....ah newbies

[DEAD!]

what you mean BOston can't go in the West conference?

ah no....can't happen

it was a joke.....ah newbies

Well Boston is in the Western Hemisphere