Right now I personally believe that the Brisbane Lions is the biggest and most important issue for the AFL. Their lack of money is well known and reasonably well discussed, as well as their poor results and poor crowd figures and judging by the first 3 rounds things do not look like they are going to be getting better any time soon.
Some may argue that the Lions did this to themselves and that they should have made better decisions post 2004 and in some ways those people are right. Appointing a coach who had no experience even at an assistant level was a massive mistake and set the club back years and cost them millions in sponsorship and money from ticket sales.
However, even acknowledging the mistakes the club has made themselves it also needs to be acknowledged by the AFL that the Lions are in a terrible position where they just can't keep their draft picks and that players they recruit are heading home as soon as they can. Right now in the last few years Brisbane have lost a pick 5 (Polec), 8 (Longer), 12 (Docherty), 25 (Karnezis) and 30 (Yoe) all the the last year and it is also looking very likely that they are going to lose Aish who was pick 7 (I think) a few years ago and is clearly a player of the future. Take any club that has regularly been in the bottom 8 in the last 5 years and then take away so many of their young talented players and see what the side looks like, it would not be pretty.
The problem for the Lions is that they are in a horrible spiral that most other clubs do not need to deal with. They can't retain their top end talent, this affects their on field performances and after so many years of poor performances the Brisbane Lions fan base is not turning up to games anymore. With the fans not turning up or watching them on television then their off field bottom line is only going to get worse and worse, meaning the club can't spend as much on their football department which is only going to make it harder for the club to improve on the field.
To me most other clubs, even the other clubs that have been at the bottom for a long time, do not have the troubles the Lions have in retaining their players and I feel the AFL really needs to step in and offer some assistance when it comes to either retaining the players they draft or possibly attracting new players to the club.
If the AFL doesn't then the on field performances will not improve and the financial situation will only get worse and worse. Like I said at the start of the thread I think right now the Brisbane Lions should be a massive priority for the AFL because this is not a club the AFL can afford to lose.
What does everyone else think about the issue? Should something be done about it and if the answer is yes what do you think should be done?
Some may argue that the Lions did this to themselves and that they should have made better decisions post 2004 and in some ways those people are right. Appointing a coach who had no experience even at an assistant level was a massive mistake and set the club back years and cost them millions in sponsorship and money from ticket sales.
However, even acknowledging the mistakes the club has made themselves it also needs to be acknowledged by the AFL that the Lions are in a terrible position where they just can't keep their draft picks and that players they recruit are heading home as soon as they can. Right now in the last few years Brisbane have lost a pick 5 (Polec), 8 (Longer), 12 (Docherty), 25 (Karnezis) and 30 (Yoe) all the the last year and it is also looking very likely that they are going to lose Aish who was pick 7 (I think) a few years ago and is clearly a player of the future. Take any club that has regularly been in the bottom 8 in the last 5 years and then take away so many of their young talented players and see what the side looks like, it would not be pretty.
The problem for the Lions is that they are in a horrible spiral that most other clubs do not need to deal with. They can't retain their top end talent, this affects their on field performances and after so many years of poor performances the Brisbane Lions fan base is not turning up to games anymore. With the fans not turning up or watching them on television then their off field bottom line is only going to get worse and worse, meaning the club can't spend as much on their football department which is only going to make it harder for the club to improve on the field.
To me most other clubs, even the other clubs that have been at the bottom for a long time, do not have the troubles the Lions have in retaining their players and I feel the AFL really needs to step in and offer some assistance when it comes to either retaining the players they draft or possibly attracting new players to the club.
If the AFL doesn't then the on field performances will not improve and the financial situation will only get worse and worse. Like I said at the start of the thread I think right now the Brisbane Lions should be a massive priority for the AFL because this is not a club the AFL can afford to lose.
What does everyone else think about the issue? Should something be done about it and if the answer is yes what do you think should be done?
