Why relocation? Why not expansion?

[Happy Daze]

As an Essendon supporter I am dead against any Melbourne based side being relocated to another part of the country; especially the Bulldogs.

I can see no reason why the competition cannot be expanded to include two more teams if the honchos of the AFL think that Western Sydney and the Gold Coast are prime 'markets' for the AFL. This would mean an 18 team competition and making the top 8 would actually mean something, rather than just being in the 'best half' of the competition which is all the teams that finish 7th and 8th can claim currently.

This would also mean the scrapping of the pre-season competition and an expanded 26-28 home and away competition introduced.

If any 'relocation' should be done it actually should be done in Melbourne itself...there are whole swathes of greater Melbourne that have virtually no AFL games within reachable vicinity. The selling of Waverly saw to that (not that it wasn't a White Elephant of a ground, but I digress)

The AFL should see to its heartland first...most would agree that clubs like North Melbourne and the Demons have lost a lot of their demographic because of the gentrification of the suburbs they represented, but that doesn't mean they should relocate anywhere. If I were going to move North Melbourne anywhere I'd move them somewhere closer to Frankston first rather than the ****ing Gold Coast.

There are many, many people in the outer suburbs of Melbourne who are denied live AFL football and it is these areas that will become prime targets for soccer.

[MightyHawks]

hawthorn is trying to represent the eastern suburbs with a presence in hawthorn, box hill and waverly.

st.kilda has decisions to make with the southern suburbs.

the problem is there aren't nearly as many people in the north and west and you've got Dogs, Dons and Cats competing with North in that region.

[Happy Daze]

hawthorn is trying to represent the eastern suburbs with a presence in hawthorn, box hill and waverly.

st.kilda has decisions to make with the southern suburbs.

the problem is there aren't nearly as many people in the north and west and you've got Dogs, Dons and Cats competing with North in that region.

North has no traditional area left...there are virtually no hardcore Roos fans left in their own suburb which was already small and squeezed as it is. Melbourne faces the same problem.

One of the issues is the lack of a ground in Eastern Melbourne...the AFL should be looking at getting one because it will be money well spent compared to moving a club to the Gold Coast.

[The Chad]

yeah why don't we expand the competition. gold coast and darwin. re-direct the competitive balance fund money towards the new teams. kangaroos and doggies will die off in time and we'll be back to 16 clubs within 5-7 years....

it makes more sense to relocate teams and keep melbourne fanbases so there's something other than home fans when the new teams come to melbourne.

[Happy Daze]

yeah why don't we expand the competition. gold coast and darwin. re-direct the competitive balance fund money towards the new teams. kangaroos and doggies will die off in time and we'll be back to 16 clubs within 5-7 years....

it makes more sense to relocate teams and keep melbourne fanbases so there's something other than home fans when the new teams come to melbourne.

I think there is a future for North Melbourne in Melbourne if they relocate their base and have a home ground in the Eastern suburbs. The Bulldogs look strong enough to me to continue where they are.

As for the second part of your argument, it makes no sense. No matter what out-of-state team comes to Melbourne, unless both sides playing are high up the ladder, you are still relying on the hardcore support of the Melbourne based team to make up the bulk of the crowd.

Besides which, a Gold Coast or Western Sydney team would have a split identity if they were made up of a team transplanted from Melbourne. Better to start afresh from the ground up with a team the locals can fully identify with.

If it were down to me I would expand the competition to initially 18 teams and then 20 teams at some stage thereafter. I'd put another team in the booming Western Australia and perhaps the last one in Tasmania.