So you're just glossing over the #1 biggest thing required for a team? Not only is Perth bigger, growing faster and a lot wealthier, it sprawls much more than Adelaide does, so geographic separation might lead to an outlying area rallying around a team. Also, there's no reason a third team has to be based off any state league clubs and take their existing baggage like Port did.
How Perth hasn't got a 3rd team is beyond logic. 40% the size of Melbourne & 20% of the teams!!!!
Perth Sharks, based at the new stadium. Start now & it'll grow.
Tas1 &WA3.
You said "It's just been posted above why SA wouldn't work having a third side". I'm assuming you were referring to Duckenthusiast 's post where part of the post suggested state league clubs would be unviable since even a dominant one like Port is only a middle to low AFL club in financial terms.
Midland does, or so I was told in the WA3 thread.
Presently, no. But Mandurah will grow to something around Geelong's present level in time. So will the City of Swan, which also has a green belt separating it from the rest of Perth. Some would say Mandurah is already in the bag for Fremantle, but a fast developing area full of young families like the City of Swan could be won over to a new team.
So they won't get fans but they will take a significant number of existing fans away? Which is it?
If WA3 isn't a goer (and most WA locals on this thread say it isn't), then SA3 is most definitely not a goer given that Adelaide is a third smaller than Perth, has a poorer economy and less growth.
I gave you one above.
What you're missing is that the current population won't last forever. As old generations die off and new ones emerge, if they grow up with a team more local to them, that can build a distinct fan base.
Neither WA team is suffering from a lack of support. Particularly the Eagles who dominate the entire state save for the stretch between Fremantle and Mandurah. What difference is it going to make the Eagles' ability to turn a profit if people from a certain part of Perth who are already locked out of Eagles games choose to support another team instead? They'll still sell out every game and have thousands on the waiting list for tickets.
Could you really? It's been over 20 years since Norwood were an entity with serious popularity. On top of which, they'd suffer from the Port Adelaide syndrome of other SANFL club fans hating them. Not to mention Perth has far better opportunities for corporate support than Adelaide does.
That's precisely why a third team in WA can work. Not only do they have the population, the economy and the corporate power, those people are actually interested in Australian Rules. The demand for top level Australian Rules in WA is greater than the supply, and will continue to be so in future as the population expands but the number of seats available does not. And there are growing areas surrounding Perth, distinct from the rest of it, where a team can take root in future.
People from Joondalup might. Or at least they might if Joondalup were distinct from the rest of Perth, but I'm told this is not the case. Pity, when you consider how many people are going to move to Alkimos and Yanchep over the next 30 years.
