I can't believe the Kangaroos board...

[AngelEyes]

The Kangaroos believe if they play eight of their eleven home games a year on the Gold Coast that they are still a Melbourne club. What a joke - do they think people are this stupid?

[FOOOOTY]

If they are playing more games in Melbourne then thats where their base would be, be where all the players live, where they train etc.. but i see your point

[Tas]

I agree in the sense that the club would have had a shorter life expectancy in co-location than it will have in either relocation or staying in Melbourne. I think it was appropriate the AFL refused to honour such an agreement on principal.

However, the AFL didn't knock it back because it was a dumb idea, they knocked it back because they want a permanent side on the Gold Coast by 2010. Both in my opinion are equally stupid ideas.

[robaba]

The Kangaroos believe if they play eight of their eleven home games a year on the Gold Coast that they are still a Melbourne club. What a joke - do they think people are this stupid?

Welcome back Caro. Was Dimmy angry tonight?

[Father Jack]

I agree in the sense that the club would have had a shorter life expectancy in co-location than it will have in either relocation or staying in Melbourne. I think it was appropriate the AFL refused to honour such an agreement on principal.

However, the AFL didn't knock it back because it was a dumb idea, they knocked it back because they want a permanent side on the Gold Coast by 2010. Both in my opinion are equally stupid ideas.

Of course we can sit back and reflect on the validity of the 'magic beans' that North apparently will find that will suddenly make them viable in a saturated market where they have shown little sign of said viability in the past. The idea of moving to the GC is a sensible one that unfortunately means somewhat of a severance with their past, but with a huge opportunity for the future. But then that is merely my opinion.

[1jasonoz]

The Kangaroos believe if they play eight of their eleven home games a year on the Gold Coast that they are still a Melbourne club. What a joke - do they think people are this stupid?

You where/are wrong USC!

[Tas]

Of course we can sit back and reflect on the validity of the 'magic beans' that North apparently will find that will suddenly make them viable in a saturated market where they have shown little sign of said viability in the past. The idea of moving to the GC is a sensible one that unfortunately means somewhat of a severance with their past, but with a huge opportunity for the future. But then that is merely my opinion.

lol you like to use Caro catch phrases without understanding the implcations behind them.

Melbourne is not "saturated", it is a competitive environment. For example, according to the Morgan poll, there are over 1 million Melbournians that do not follow a club let alone support one. That to me doesn't suggest that the market is saturated. It tells me there are opportunities in the market, when there are more people that don't follow a team than there are say Collingwood supporters in Melbourne then that to me is an indication of a potential market.

Much of this market comes from immigrants to the city, be they from another state or another country there is scope to take advantage of a market that is not being exploited. Hawthorn has done this to some extent by targetting one sector of the asian community and have had a lot of success with it.

Melbourne is growing faster than any city in the country, there are more new people coming to Melbourne than anywhere else. That creates opportunity if you are focused on taking advantage of it. We have not been focusing on expanding our supporter base because it is a costly exercise and have lacked the funds in the past, we have greater access to funding now which would allow us to aggressively target expansion in Melbourne.

Gold Coast isn't a virgin market ripe for the plucking, they have had football before, they have not supported it and they lost their team, much like most of their major sporting clubs because it is an elephant graveyard where people go to die. It has also been invaded from NE NSW due to over-population in NSW, this has seen the Titans grow strong relatively overnight.

Many of the existing AFL supporters would more than likely follow the Lions, yet their support has been waning over the years without the presence of another side there. AFL has badly miscalculated the market based on the Lions after a three premiership dominating era, it is not sustainable.

Lions plus a Gold Coast team plus all their rugby teams leaves for as much congestion in Queensland as there is in Melbourne.

It will take hard work to make things work here but it will take a lot of hard work to make the club thrive anywhere. If you are going to give it a crack I would rather work with the 25k odd supporters here and give it a real crack.

If SEQ was screaming for an AFL team I think they would have cracked more than 3k to their grand final, we used to get more than that to our under 14s suburban grand finals.

[drjimminez]

Heaven forbid the AFL make a smart business decision!! Comparing gold coast AFL fans to brisbane is stupid, brisbane is an hour away similar to geelong and melbourne!

North have all but sealed their fate as a dinosaur of the past and will now die a horrible death!

If you havent done it for the last 100 years your not going to start now. You can't rely on 1 million people who don't support AFL as your market of the future and imigrants.

THE AFLQ GRAND FINAL WAS PLAYED AT CARRARA AND HAD 12000 people their... I was one, so stop pushing this idea that 3000 went to a game of local footy which is a lie.

MELBOURNE IS NOT GROWING FASTER THAN SEQ< THAT IS A LIE..

[gpkanga]

I cant believe all the who haa from North Supporters. I am a lifetime supporter whose grandfather was a life member. This move is a must if we are to survive in any fashion.

Why not say yes to the AFL, and then be in a position to negotiate, ie a min of 7-8 games in Melb, which would mean we would have to go to adelaide, Perth less than any other team. North Members would simply purchase a membership to Melb Games,they would see more games in melb than we do now, and we would have more games on TV.

Without AFL monies we will not survive, I say lets go, but negotiate HARD

[CatmanForever]

I would hate to see North move but the reality is that if they don't go then as someone said they will die a long painful death until they may end up being forced to merge with another club and totally lose their identity.

If they move to the GC then they go with their players intact, their club culture established and a strong history behind them. They will get draft and salary cap concessions which could see them win a flag within a few years of their move. That would help them establish a good supporter base up there.

It wont be easy, it will be heart wrenching for North Fans in Melbourne. All my brothers are mad keen Swans supporters and even though they were gutted when SM moved to Sydney, they still follow them today just as keenly. Some supporters will be hurt, but most will move on and either stay with the GC Kangaroos or not.

So if North turn down this opportunity to become a true powerhouse in the AFL then they are crazy and will be gone by 2015. The AFL will withdraw the funds they are giving them to prop them up and then over a couple of years it will be finished.

that's my opinion

[relapse]

lol you like to use Caro catch phrases without understanding the implcations behind them.

Melbourne is not "saturated", it is a competitive environment. For example, according to the Morgan poll, there are over 1 million Melbournians that do not follow a club let alone support one. That to me doesn't suggest that the market is saturated. It tells me there are opportunities in the market, when there are more people that don't follow a team than there are say Collingwood supporters in Melbourne then that to me is an indication of a potential market.

You will never get 100 percent penetration in the Victorian market, there are thousands of people out there that hate sports and hate football, that isnt a potential market there are reasons why those people dont support football even though it has been established in Melbourne for over 100 years and that isnt about to change. If North are trying to aim there then there is no chance, people will either support and love the footy or they wont you cant tap into an untappable market.

The Melbourne market is exhausted and is at its limit,the cards the team have now are all they have to play with, the AFL will not magically find a million new supporters over night. If the Melbourne market isnt exhausted then why are Melbourne and the Bulldogs also on the brink ???

Much of this market comes from immigrants to the city, be they from another state or another country there is scope to take advantage of a market that is not being exploited. Hawthorn has done this to some extent by targetting one sector of the asian community and have had a lot of success with it.

The immigration levels to Melbourne havent increased, why will this suddenly help North Melbourne when it hasnt for the past 15 years ???

Melbourne is growing faster than any city in the country, there are more new people coming to Melbourne than anywhere else. That creates opportunity if you are focused on taking advantage of it. We have not been focusing on expanding our supporter base because it is a costly exercise and have lacked the funds in the past, we have greater access to funding now which would allow us to aggressively target expansion in Melbourne.

But when North statistically are only seeing 8% at most of that growth that is where the problem is, all growht in melbourne is obviously shared between all 10 clubs so naturally north are getting the lowest growth out of all the clubs which means that some of the clubs are growing at triple the rate of North Melbourne, NOrth Melbourne were the successful team on the 90s and the support level hasnt changed significantly so I dont see how suddenly it would

Gold Coast isn't a virgin market ripe for the plucking, they have had football before, they have not supported it and they lost their team, much like most of their major sporting clubs because it is an elephant graveyard where people go to die. It has also been invaded from NE NSW due to over-population in NSW, this has seen the Titans grow strong relatively overnight.

I dont agree, when the bears went there 20 years ago things were alot different to how they are now, that market has changed signicantly since that time it will also be marketed very different this time around, they also have a rival that will significantly increase the interest in it. The NRL have a history of not putting the hard yards into ensuring the success of a club, rugby league is plauged with failed expansions because it was deemed too hard by the NRL (Adelaide/Perth etc), it needs money and promotion and in the long term it will be viable and successful the AFL has a proven track record in expanding and making the expansion work.

Many of the existing AFL supporters would more than likely follow the Lions, yet their support has been waning over the years without the presence of another side there. AFL has badly miscalculated the market based on the Lions after a three premiership dominating era, it is not sustainable.

No creating a rivarly creates more interest having a monopoly tends to lessen the interest, football in both Adelaide and Perth have been assisted significantly by the AFL having a rival side, having a GC team will not impede on the lions because there is that distance between them. I cant imagine too many of the 25-30k at the lions games coming from the gold coast. There will be many expat SA and Vics there that will jump onboard etc.

Lions plus a Gold Coast team plus all their rugby teams leaves for as much congestion in Queensland as there is in Melbourne.

Thats not true, Melbourne currently has 10 clubs, Melbourne Storm, Melbourne Victory etc. The problem has to do with the codes themselves there are plenty living up there that would follow the code due to where they are from and others that will jump onboard and as I said before the rivarly of another side in QLD will create a good situation for both clubs

It will take hard work to make things work here but it will take a lot of hard work to make the club thrive anywhere. If you are going to give it a crack I would rather work with the 25k odd supporters here and give it a real crack.

The problem is that after 10 years of hard work North are in the same position, this wont change IMO. The AFL would rather spend the money where they will see benefit.

As much as I respect you as a poster, we are poles apart on this issue.

[NimChief]

THE AFLQ GRAND FINAL WAS PLAYED AT CARRARA AND HAD 12000 people their... I was one, so stop pushing this idea that 3000 went to a game of local footy which is a lie.

Not what the official records say mate.