Expansion A third team in Queensland? AFL acknowledges QLD3 as a 20th licence option

[jpmelb7]

As an aside - what would Sunshine Coast's moniker be? Suns is already taken haha

 

[CatsDan]

Call them the Northern Australiana Dingos. 3 games in Darwin, four in Broome, six in Gold Coast and another three in Rockhamptom. Boom. Close thread.

 

[GC2015]

As an aside - what would Sunshine Coast's moniker be? Suns is already taken haha

Sunshine Coast Sharks?
Sunny Coast Sharks?
Sunshine Sharks?
North Coast Sharks?
Northern Sharks?

I think Sharks works, but there's other sealife that can work too like Stingrays, Stingers, Dolphins etc. Sunny Coast sports teams tend to wear predominantely yellow and that's a colour that no AFL team has really used as it's dominant colour for the home jumper so that's probably an easy one to do.

 

[Obeanie1]

Starting a Northern Brisbane / Sunshine Coast AFL team would actually hurt the Lions quite a bit because most of their prominent academy graduates like Andrews (North Brisbane), Hipwood (Sunshine Coast), Marshall (Sunshine Coast), Gallop (Sunshine Coast) are from that area and would be zoned to the 20th team instead. The Lions would then become reliant on southern Brisbane and the western corridor of Ipswich, which is far less known for producing AFL footballers.

So, in this case, you would actually be splitting an existing academy and the Lions get the short end of the stick. It's like when they initially had zone access to the Gold Coast and it was taken away so they missed out on drafting players like Riewoldt, Tippett, Hale and Beams.

No one knows how the AFL would rearrange the zones.l with a 3rd team in Qld.

Put them all into a Qld pool and the three Qld clubs can bid on them. Highest bid wins.

Sounds fair.

 

[Obeanie1]

Call them the Northern Australiana Dingos. 3 games in Darwin, four in Broome, six in Gold Coast and another three in Rockhamptom. Boom. Close thread.

North Qld Crocs would be better.

And they seem to be moving South too in Qld.

 

[Football Tragic]

Some sort of Northern Team could work as the 20th license Bringing in Northern Queensland and Northern Territory. They could split their home games between the two states. If the NRL are putting a team in PNG and have one in Redcliff with tiny stadiums and crowds, a Northern AFL team would work.

Alternatively, a third WA team would be the next option.

 

[Canberra Pear]

Some sort of Northern Team could work as the 20th license Bringing in Northern Queensland and Northern Territory. They could split their home games between the two states. If the NRL are putting a team in PNG and have one in Redcliff with tiny stadiums and crowds, a Northern AFL team would work.

That would be absolutely hell for travel. Would make the western teams' travel woes look like Collingwood's.

 

[eastfreo75]

Some sort of Northern Team could work as the 20th license Bringing in Northern Queensland and Northern Territory. They could split their home games between the two states. If the NRL are putting a team in PNG and have one in Redcliff with tiny stadiums and crowds, a Northern AFL team would work.

Alternatively, a third WA team would be the next option.

WA football is in trouble. The % of players being drafted is decreasing, West Coast on field is rubbish and Fremantle is ok. Brisbane and Gold Coast lists have more upside than Fremantle.

Off field West Coast have $100m plus in reserve and Fremantle makes a small profit each year. Bring a third WA team in and that team and Fremantle will struggle off the field.

Fremantle and now West Coast struggle to get A grade recruits and a third team will split the limited recruits. Go home factor will be divided into three years.

A third team will make three teams weak, pathetic and unsustainable.

 

[JimmyBC]

WA football is in trouble. The % of players being drafted is decreasing, West Coast on field is rubbish and Fremantle is ok. Brisbane and Gold Coast lists have more upside than Fremantle.

Off field West Coast have $100m plus in reserve and Fremantle makes a small profit each year. Bring a third WA team in and that team and Fremantle will struggle off the field.

Fremantle and now West Coast struggle to get A grade recruits and a third team will split the limited recruits. Go home factor will be divided into three years.

A third team will make three teams weak, pathetic and unsustainable.

The WA & SA clubs are exactly where the AFL want them at present, viable but not threatening. The NSW & QLD clubs are the AFL house engineered for success projects. I find it laughable that Brisbane lead the flag count of the non Vic teams, SA & WA clubs should have first dibs on their local talent it's not 1985 anymore.

 

[eastfreo75]

The WA & SA clubs are exactly where the AFL want them at present, viable but not threatening. The NSW & QLD clubs are the AFL house engineered for success projects. I find it laughable that Brisbane lead the flag count of the non Vic teams, SA & WA clubs should have first dibs on their local talent it's not 1985 anymore.

The northern teams DID have an issue with retention and recruitment. Only GWS has issues.

Brisbane had 8 players under 22 in a winning grand final team with Draper, Allen and top 5 pick coming into the side.

Gold Coast made the top 6 with some many players with massive upside. They will be getting three first round picks in this draft and potentially a premiership AA midfielder.

Both Queensland teams will be top 6 for ten years. Doesn’t leave a lot of spots for other teams to challenge for a flag.

 

[CarterS]

AFL has made massive strides in the western corrider Ipswich/Logan/Springfield area. It used to be and probably still is NRL heart land but AFL has definitely made inroads. NRL are ignoring this area/taking it for granted. I am really surprised that of all the talk of new NRL teams, none of them are talking about this area.

 

[speedpeck23]

Starting a Northern Brisbane / Sunshine Coast AFL team would actually hurt the Lions quite a bit because most of their prominent academy graduates like Andrews (North Brisbane), Hipwood (Sunshine Coast), Marshall (Sunshine Coast), Gallop (Sunshine Coast) are from that area and would be zoned to the 20th team instead. The Lions would then become reliant on southern Brisbane and the western corridor of Ipswich, which is far less known for producing AFL footballers.

So, in this case, you would actually be splitting an existing academy and the Lions get the short end of the stick. It's like when they initially had zone access to the Gold Coast and it was taken away so they missed out on drafting players like Riewoldt, Tippett, Hale and Beams.

Agree. I would forget about creating another AFL club. Too much of a drain on resources and not really needed. You simply want to make Brisbane and Gold Coast BIG BIG AFL Clubs.

But Sunshine Coast is however a definite focus for AFL.

The whole expansion into QLD and NSW should be more about growing the existing AFL Clubs in those regions and strategically utilizing the drawing power of the Victorian Clubs to play in SE Qld more often, particularly with Brisbane getting a 60,000 seat AFL friendly Stadium in the next 6 years.

The AFL competition whilst appearing as a state based is simply not truly that. Players are recruited from everywhere, anywhere. Supporters can follow any team....teams play multiple locations across the country and are on a screen anyway.

Obviously their is a strong local affiliation for clubs outside the Melbourne Metro area.... eg Geelong, SA, WA and soon Tassie. In Mebourne Metro the true AFL fans are tribal for their clubs not for the fact they are "Victorian ".

Generally I'd rather see West Coast beat Collingwood. There was no way I could barrack for Geelong over Brisbane in the Grand Final.

My point is that there is still massive growth potential for the stronger "Victorian "clubs into NSW and Qld.... not as the main local club, but certainly clubs like Essendon, Carlton, Collingwood, Richmond, St Kilda, Hawthorn have significant membership/support base and brand profile to build a profile in Qld and NSW which would promote the game far more than trying to get a team up and running from the Sunshine Coast or Canberra or wherever.

To illustrate my point the AFL could easily structure the fixture to facilitate this... Just as an example...

StKilda could sell 2 games into Sunshine Coast per season. Also have 2 away games v Brisbane and v Gold Coast. effectively they have 4 games yearly in SEQ. Sell 4 game Membership into Qld and grow their overall membership base....recruit a couple Queensland players.... They still play 14 games in Melbourne .

Collingwood could sell one game to Gold Coast play at Gabba and eventually Olympic stadium. They play 2 away games v Brisbane at Gabba and v GC at GCoast. The Pies could sell a 3 game membership into Qld.. Pies could easily drum up 15,000 members in Qld. Effectively you a bringing the club tribalism seen in Victoria into Qld and NSW

Effectively you make all clubs bigger and diffuse the state parochialism in the AFL Club competition, leave that for when you can really get AFL Origin going.

 

[Cmarsh]

AFL has made massive strides in the western corrider Ipswich/Logan/Springfield area. It used to be and probably still is NRL heart land but AFL has definitely made inroads. NRL are ignoring this area/taking it for granted. I am really surprised that of all the talk of new NRL teams, none of them are talking about this area.

There is some talk of it. Ben Ikin, the Queensland RL CEO, specifically advocates for Ipswich as the third Brisbane NRL side.

 

[Purple Suit]

WA football is in trouble. The % of players being drafted is decreasing, West Coast on field is rubbish and Fremantle is ok. Brisbane and Gold Coast lists have more upside than Fremantle.

Off field West Coast have $100m plus in reserve and Fremantle makes a small profit each year. Bring a third WA team in and that team and Fremantle will struggle off the field.

Fremantle and now West Coast struggle to get A grade recruits and a third team will split the limited recruits. Go home factor will be divided into three years.

A third team will make three teams weak, pathetic and unsustainable.

What a crock, if we had full access like the QLD teams have had under the old rules we’d have super teams by now too. No burning 2 first for Jackson, we’d get him for free and trade in Dunkley / Cameron with the change.

GC have won 1 final in 15 years and they have no supporters. Brisbane has has won 5 flags in 25 years and they still have less supporters than us. They both get an extra 10-15m from the AFL each season which is basically double.

A 3rd WA team means more money for WA development so more players to share. It also means less travel for us and we become more relevant. WA3 will be good for all of us, not the other way around.

 

[Canberra Pear]

Agree. I would forget about creating another AFL club. Too much of a drain on resources and not really needed. You simply want to make Brisbane and Gold Coast BIG BIG AFL Clubs.

But Sunshine Coast is however a definite focus for AFL.

The whole expansion into QLD and NSW should be more about growing the existing AFL Clubs in those regions and strategically utilizing the drawing power of the Victorian Clubs to play in SE Qld more often, particularly with Brisbane getting a 60,000 seat AFL friendly Stadium in the next 6 years.

The AFL competition whilst appearing as a state based is simply not truly that. Players are recruited from everywhere, anywhere. Supporters can follow any team....teams play multiple locations across the country and are on a screen anyway.

Obviously their is a strong local affiliation for clubs outside the Melbourne Metro area.... eg Geelong, SA, WA and soon Tassie. In Mebourne Metro the true AFL fans are tribal for their clubs not for the fact they are "Victorian ".

Generally I'd rather see West Coast beat Collingwood. There was no way I could barrack for Geelong over Brisbane in the Grand Final.

My point is that there is still massive growth potential for the stronger "Victorian "clubs into NSW and Qld.... not as the main local club, but certainly clubs like Essendon, Carlton, Collingwood, Richmond, St Kilda, Hawthorn have significant membership/support base and brand profile to build a profile in Qld and NSW which would promote the game far more than trying to get a team up and running from the Sunshine Coast or Canberra or wherever.

To illustrate my point the AFL could easily structure the fixture to facilitate this... Just as an example...

StKilda could sell 2 games into Sunshine Coast per season. Also have 2 away games v Brisbane and v Gold Coast. effectively they have 4 games yearly in SEQ. Sell 4 game Membership into Qld and grow their overall membership base....recruit a couple Queensland players.... They still play 14 games in Melbourne .

Collingwood could sell one game to Gold Coast play at Gabba and eventually Olympic stadium. They play 2 away games v Brisbane at Gabba and v GC at GCoast. The Pies could sell a 3 game membership into Qld.. Pies could easily drum up 15,000 members in Qld. Effectively you a bringing the club tribalism seen in Victoria into Qld and NSW

Effectively you make all clubs bigger and diffuse the state parochialism in the AFL Club competition, leave that for when you can really get AFL Origin going.

I partially agree.

If you already have a full-time club in a city, we should be focusing firstly on making those clubs as strong as possible.

We should be getting the Lions and Suns consistently selling out a 63k and 35-40k stadium before looking at a second Brisbane team.

Same goes for a third WA team. We should be upgrading Optus to 70k (more if it were possible) and pushing for Freo and West Coast to be the Man City and Man United of the comp before adding a Bolton equivalent.

But you can't leave markets without a team and expect them to get on board. You can't ignore what having a true local team brings. The Raiders do so much heavy lifting for the NRL in Canberra. You need a local team for people to united behind. Representation matters and location matters. Otherwise you could just move Hawthorn to Canberra and nobody would care.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

Sunshine Coast Sharks?
Sunny Coast Sharks?
Sunshine Sharks?
North Coast Sharks?
Northern Sharks?

I think Sharks works, but there's other sealife that can work too like Stingrays, Stingers, Dolphins etc. Sunny Coast sports teams tend to wear predominantely yellow and that's a colour that no AFL team has really used as it's dominant colour for the home jumper so that's probably an easy one to do.

Sunshine Coast Stingrays, inevitably shortened to Sun Rays.
And they can adapt the Sesame Street themes as their club song

Sunny rays
Sweep other teams away ....

Sometimes I start something almost seriously, and start to realise how ridiculous it could really be.

 

[Cmarsh]

Sunshine Coast Sharks?
Sunny Coast Sharks?
Sunshine Sharks?
North Coast Sharks?
Northern Sharks?

I think Sharks works, but there's other sealife that can work too like Stingrays, Stingers, Dolphins etc. Sunny Coast sports teams tend to wear predominantely yellow and that's a colour that no AFL team has really used as it's dominant colour for the home jumper so that's probably an easy one to do.

Southport Sharks wouldn't be that happy.

 

[Coolangatta]

Southport Sharks wouldn't be that happy.

**** em, they are a Gold Coast based club who doesn’t have a monopoly the rest of Australia’s use for that mascot.

Sunshine Coast Sharks would be perfect.

Got to get one, preferably two Vic clubs playing four games a year there against the Lions and Suns first at an AFL standard ground.

But they’d be perfect for a 21st club option.

On another note, I do agree WA and SA should have first dibs to their state based players, though.

The VFL will never allow it.

 

[JimmyBC]

On another note, I do agree WA and SA should have first dibs to their state based players, though.

The VFL will never allow it.

Yep SA & WA pay for being heart land states regardless of what the numbers reflect.

 

[Coolangatta]

Yep SA & WA pay for being heart land states regardless of what the numbers reflect.

I also think the AFL fears the top 8 being dominated by interstate teams.

There could be a benefit to having only two teams in one state - we are seeing that play out big time in QLD and to a lesser extent NSW.

If they stopped screwing WA and SA over a barrel, they’d be forced to confront a harsh reality: 10 teams in Victoria doesn’t work.

But they never wanted any of us in their VFL, they had no choice because $$$.

So they’ll twist arms to ensure we don’t see a period of interstate dominance that excels what we saw from 2001-6.

Good luck stopping the QLD juggernaut, though.

Too bad another Lions Port GF looks unlikely anytime soon.

 

[JimmyBC]

I also think the AFL fears the top 8 being dominated by interstate teams.

There could be a benefit to having only two teams in one state - we are seeing that play out big time in QLD and to a lesser extent NSW.

If they stopped screwing WA and SA over a barrel, they’d be forced to confront a harsh reality: 10 teams in Victoria doesn’t work.

But they never wanted any of us in their VFL, they had no choice because $$$.

So they’ll twist arms to ensure we don’t see a period of interstate dominance that excels what we saw from 2001-6.

Good luck stopping the QLD juggernaut, though.

Too bad another Lions Port GF looks unlikely anytime soon.

I think the role call of indigenous stars out of WA & SA over the years also scares them if we were to have first dibs. I mean they even gave Vic clubs allowances on metro indigenous lads for their academies denied to our clubs until recently.

 

[Francesco Totti]

Call them the Northern Australiana Dingos. 3 games in Darwin, four in Broome, six in Gold Coast and another three in Rockhamptom. Boom. Close thread.

4 games in Broome is.a lot given their population is about 15,000.

 

[Jackie_Moon]

The afl needs 2 new teams like a hole in the head, personally I hope the Tassie gov doesn't build the stadium and the whole idea is put on a distant back burner.

 

[loco3]

Sunshine Coast Sharks?
Sunny Coast Sharks?
Sunshine Sharks?
North Coast Sharks?
Northern Sharks?

I think Sharks works, but there's other sealife that can work too like Stingrays, Stingers, Dolphins etc. Sunny Coast sports teams tend to wear predominantely yellow and that's a colour that no AFL team has really used as it's dominant colour for the home jumper so that's probably an easy one to do.

Does a ‘Sharks’ identity risk overlapping with Cronulla in a NRL friendly state? Don’t get me wrong, I think it could work, but it would definitely be something the afl could be concerned about.

Stingrays or Marlins would suit the coastal vibe. Dolphins would have been fantastic, but obviously that has ties to the NRL now.

Regarding colours - I’ve lately been thinking something similar to a Miami Dolphins could be cool - aqua, white and orange trims.

I like the idea of focussing on yellow too, but could be difficult to pull off aesthetically. Maybe a two toned yellow and gold jersey?

Alternatively, pink might be a nice focus - maybe pink and royal blue?

 

[Walshawk]

Agree. I would forget about creating another AFL club. Too much of a drain on resources and not really needed. You simply want to make Brisbane and Gold Coast BIG BIG AFL Clubs.

But Sunshine Coast is however a definite focus for AFL.

The whole expansion into QLD and NSW should be more about growing the existing AFL Clubs in those regions and strategically utilizing the drawing power of the Victorian Clubs to play in SE Qld more often, particularly with Brisbane getting a 60,000 seat AFL friendly Stadium in the next 6 years.

The AFL competition whilst appearing as a state based is simply not truly that. Players are recruited from everywhere, anywhere. Supporters can follow any team....teams play multiple locations across the country and are on a screen anyway.

Obviously their is a strong local affiliation for clubs outside the Melbourne Metro area.... eg Geelong, SA, WA and soon Tassie. In Mebourne Metro the true AFL fans are tribal for their clubs not for the fact they are "Victorian ".

Generally I'd rather see West Coast beat Collingwood. There was no way I could barrack for Geelong over Brisbane in the Grand Final.

My point is that there is still massive growth potential for the stronger "Victorian "clubs into NSW and Qld.... not as the main local club, but certainly clubs like Essendon, Carlton, Collingwood, Richmond, St Kilda, Hawthorn have significant membership/support base and brand profile to build a profile in Qld and NSW which would promote the game far more than trying to get a team up and running from the Sunshine Coast or Canberra or wherever.

To illustrate my point the AFL could easily structure the fixture to facilitate this... Just as an example...

StKilda could sell 2 games into Sunshine Coast per season. Also have 2 away games v Brisbane and v Gold Coast. effectively they have 4 games yearly in SEQ. Sell 4 game Membership into Qld and grow their overall membership base....recruit a couple Queensland players.... They still play 14 games in Melbourne .

Collingwood could sell one game to Gold Coast play at Gabba and eventually Olympic stadium. They play 2 away games v Brisbane at Gabba and v GC at GCoast. The Pies could sell a 3 game membership into Qld.. Pies could easily drum up 15,000 members in Qld. Effectively you a bringing the club tribalism seen in Victoria into Qld and NSW

Effectively you make all clubs bigger and diffuse the state parochialism in the AFL Club competition, leave that for when you can really get AFL Origin going.

There is no stadium on the Sunshine Coast. Plus, having one club play four games there is overcommitting. If they are to convert anyone to supporting the AFL, you would want them to be Suns or Lions fans, not Saints fans. It would be like making North play away games in Perth on top of their two sold home games in WA.