The AFL wants 22 teams. Name your next four.

Mar 21, 2008
4,385
4,003
FNQ
AFL Club
Tasmania
Other Teams
Devils, Tigers & Jackjumpers
Tasmania

Bali

Darwin

Country Victoria

Could you imagine the Tassie team flying up north in the middle of winter!!! Ice vests all round!
Don't need to stretch to imagine the whinging and bitching when mainlanders make the trip to Hobart in July - Richmond v North in the Friday nighter at Bellerive last year gave us plenty to sneer at...

Besides, Tasmanians are always lurking around Qld on holiday...a second home...it's been mine for 22 years now...
 

basashi

Premiership Player
Jun 18, 2010
4,070
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  1. Joondalup, by far the best economic and membership opportunity for the AFL, far outstripping the opportunity represented by even the best case scenario on the Gold Coast. There may be other strategic reasons why not to take it but this would be the earliest self sufficient opportunity and the least costly investment. If you started them all this would be the first club to stand on its own feet and be a "lifter" club rather than a "leaner".
  2. Northern Sydney - Go with me on this: the northern half of Sydney has one NRL team (Manly tucked away in the SE corner). After that you have to go all the way to Parramatta and Penrith. No other Sydney club in League, Rugby, Basketball, AFL or Soccer national competition is seen as "local" for the northern half of Sydney. This patch of about 2 million is by far the most underrepresented patch of urban Australia in terms of having a professional sports team seen as local. Across the northern beaches, north shore and northern suburbs there is a bit of aussie rules played too. Would be a very long term subsidised option but the blank canvas is there.
  3. Hobart / Tasmania. Tasmania as a whole is a proposition - Hobart or Launceston are not. The problem is getting enough support from enough areas. You have to put the team somewhere and wherever you put it, you risk alienating the rest of the island. Your best chance is probably to call the team Tasmania and split the home games between Hobart and Launceston. Your marketing goal is to get Tasmanians to ditch their existing club and have a bit of state pride. It probably is doable if you go full on with the jingoistic Tassie pride fervour.
  4. Canberra. The ship has sailed a little - bit but if the VFL had attacked Canberra before NSWRL and Rugby did then it would probably have been a footy powerhouse by now. The population is growing but the real question is how many of them could be real week in / week out supporters. League, Union and Soccer are inherently poor products, so there is a chance.
Cairns, Darwin, Bendigo, Ballarat, Townsville etc are just too small. None of them could really match the case for a 5th Adelaide side. And that ain't happening.

My controversial point is that option 1 is a better opportunity than some existing Melbourne clubs, the long term scenario of option 2 is better than some existing Melbourne clubs but option 3 and 4 might not be.
 

basashi

Premiership Player
Jun 18, 2010
4,070
5,449
AFL Club
Fremantle
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FFC Quay Club
Tasmania should be the number 1 priority
3rd WA team, most likely more northern (like Broome) and playing some games in Darwin
Vic Country in the East (Sale maybe?)
Vic Country to the West/ North West (Ballarat or Bendigo)

I was going to suggest Canberra but the AFL would never do that as it creates competition for membership with GWS

Pretty much every man woman and child in Broome would have to pay to get in, leave and pay to get in again. If you were going to go outside Perth you would at least have a tiny chance of success with a Bunbury / Busselton side.

Sale, Ballarat and Bendigo are so incredibly unlikely to be viable that it boggles the mind.
 

Our Game

Club Legend
Sep 30, 2014
2,881
1,705
Sandringham
AFL Club
Geelong
The AFL DONT need any new teams for at least 10 years and maybe never.
The talent pool of players is already being pushed to the limit and thats effecting the overall quality of the football.
A start to improve the standard would be to go to 16 players a side like the AFLW teams
 

thegreig

Club Legend
Aug 12, 2010
1,051
769
Eastern Suburbs, Melbourne
AFL Club
Hawthorn
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Melbourne Stars BBL
The AFL DONT need any new teams for at least 10 years and maybe never.
The talent pool of players is already being pushed to the limit and thats effecting the overall quality of the football.
A start to improve the standard would be to go to 16 players a side like the AFLW teams
maybe never, that's a pretty big call old' matey!
I agree 16 players is the way to go, it would help open up the game and improve the standard. Win win
 
Imagine getting drafted by a Bendigo team. Imagine putting in all that hard work in the under 18's only to end up in ******* Bendigo.

Could be worse...At least from Bendigo you can drive to civilisation.
 

deltablues

Cancelled
Jul 16, 2013
1,891
1,950
Rapid City, South Dakota
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Collingwood
Other Teams
Sturt, Green Bay Packers
Sturt Double Blues
Melbourne United [all Melbourne teams except Collingwood. You don't need 22 teams. Texas has a greater population than Oz and has 2 teams].
Oatlands [Tas] Raiders
Perth Cowboys

But it's actually gonna be
Lesser West Sydney DayRelease
Cairns Subsidies
Fitzroy Dreamers
Perth Saffers
 
Sep 24, 2006
3,983
3,402
Wimmera
AFL Club
Collingwood
Not that I'm expecting anything to happen for a while, but for just for the heck of it -
1) Canberra - area population over 450,000, overall high income, quite good grassroots (but would be better with its own team) and as nations capitol, should've had a team in by now.
2) Tasmania - Based at Hobart but with 4-5 games played at Launceston. Madmug and others have already listed all the arguments why ad finitum, so amongst all the other reasons, giving Tassie its own team would be the most effective way of stopping all those never ending annoying posts.
3) Darwin - Could get generous gov't support on the premise of having a better pathway for the many Northern Australian indigenous who presently have to go a long way south to a very different culture in which too many have problems adjusting.
4) Maybe third Perth, but don't discount Auckland. Whilst rugby league has good support in the poorer outer suburbs, especially amongst the islander communities, the higher socio-economic suburbs are very much dominated by rugby union - these are the ones I've mixed with having visited there quite a lot, particularly over the last year. I've been surprised by the number of 'covert' followers I've met while fraternizing after hours and their knowledge and/or awareness of AFL - e.g. even claiming Dusty Martin as one of their own! ATM there's no suitable venue in Auckland, but discussions with the city council have been held about building a new waterfront oval stadium, suitable for cricket and AFL. No decisions made yet, and may not be for a while, but with Eden Park really too small for international cricket and the AFL involved, lets wait and see.
 
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Aussie in exile

Norm Smith Medallist
Nov 21, 2013
5,114
3,730
AFL Club
Melbourne
Not that I'm expecting anything to happen for a while, but for just for the heck of it -
1) Canberra - area population over 450,000, overall high income, quite good grassroots (but would be better with its own team) and as nations capitol, should've had a team in by now.
2) Tasmania - Based at Hobart but with 4-5 games played at Launceston. Madmug and others have already listed all the arguments why ad finitum, so amongst all the other reasons, giving Tassie its own team would be the most effective way of stopping all those never ending annoying posts.
3) Darwin - Could get generous gov't support on the premise of having a better pathway for the many Northern Australian indigenous who presently have to go a long way south to a very different culture in which too many have problems adjusting.
4) Maybe third Perth, but don't discount Auckland. Whilst rugby league has good support in the poorer outer suburbs, especially amongst the islander communities, the higher socio-economic suburbs are very much dominated by rugby union - these are the ones I've mixed with having visited there quite a lot, particularly over the last year. I've been surprised by the number of 'covert' followers I've met while fraternizing after hours and their knowledge or awareness of AFL - e.g. even claiming Dusty Martin as one of their own! ATM there's no suitable venue in Auckland, but discussions with the city council have been held about building a new waterfront oval stadium, suitable for cricket and AFL. No decisions made yet, and may not be for a while, but with Eden Park really too small for international cricket and the AFL involved, lets wait and see.
The semi pro Rugby League comp they are about to introduce will snap up all the remaining athletes in Auckland and Wellington leaving next to nothing for AF imo.
 
Sep 24, 2006
3,983
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Wimmera
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Collingwood
The semi pro Rugby League comp they are about to introduce will snap up all the remaining athletes in Auckland and Wellington leaving next to nothing for AF imo.
Don't think it would make any difference IMO. Not only does "semi pro" not really cut it these days, but the types playing in any such competition probably wouldn't be into our game regardless. Also, in the (unlikely) event an AFL team is actually started or relocated there, it would overwhelmingly be dependent on imported Australian players for quite a while. Rugby Union remains immensely strong there.

BTW - just wondering, why the name "Aussie in exile" when your location is Melbourne - the nations sporting Capitol?
 

Aussie in exile

Norm Smith Medallist
Nov 21, 2013
5,114
3,730
AFL Club
Melbourne
Don't think it would make any difference IMO. Not only does "semi pro" not really cut it these days, but the types playing in any such competition probably wouldn't be into our game regardless. Also, in the (unlikely) event an AFL team is actually started or relocated there, it would overwhelmingly be dependent on imported Australian players for quite a while. Rugby Union remains immensely strong there.

BTW - just wondering, why the name "Aussie in exile" when your location is Melbourne - the nations sporting Capitol?
Live in Thailand nowadays. Was in the Gas and oil industry, but its all gone pear shaped over here at the moment, but if i can stick in out another 18 months to 2 years things might just pick up.
I was on a work visa before but have had to change it now to retirement visa just so i could stay here.
 
Sep 24, 2006
3,983
3,402
Wimmera
AFL Club
Collingwood
Live in Thailand nowadays. Was in the Gas and oil industry, but its all gone pear shaped over here at the moment, but if i can stick in out another 18 months to 2 years things might just pick up.
I was on a work visa before but have had to change it now to retirement visa just so i could stay here.
Ok gotcha - well living in Thailand can have its benefits.
 
May 30, 2006
17,516
10,292
Canberra
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Next four based on AFL prorities?

Perth City

Campbelltown-Liverpool

Wanneroo

There is no 4th slot that fits either "able to pay for itself fairly quickly" or "growth area, able to pay for itself a few decades down the track" which are the AFL's priorities - so they would probably look at the Sunshine Coast but more realistically won't be going beyond 20 teams in the next 20-30 years.
 
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