20th AFL Team

[Cunnington Cartel]

It's a really cool concept, but yes, I don't think there'll ever be two teams in Tasmania.

The next three after Tassie should come from ACT-Riverina, WA3, and Brisbane 2-Sunshine Coast.

If I was going to add another two teams after that, I'd be looking at New Zealand and Sydney 3-Newcastle, two largest untapped populations left to tap into. Newcastle on their own is probably risky but a 3 game membership partnership with the northern area of Sydney could work.

There'll be popular demand for SA3 if WA3 ever gets in just because it's a footy state, but if population growth matters, then I don't see it being as viable as some say.

If it ever panned out, they would be bitter rivals - to the equivalent of any others in the league. They’re even trying to build a second prison down there cause there has been a North v South dynamic between the inmates for generations. Like we said, it’s a better option for Tassie to unite instead of divide.

Although my point still stands re VFL. This is probably the wrong thread for this; however, there’s only going to be about 14 spots for non-AFL listed locals to play for Tassie’s VFL team. There’s also no state league after this year, so 14 spots for those who aspire to play at a level above regional footy is not enough for a whole state.

Having a second non-aligned VFL team would provide an opportunity for another 30-40 of Tassie’s best players to test themselves at the best level they can (just like how Southport operates in the VFL). Surely this would be better for footy in Tassie rather than losing all of these types of players to other clubs in the VFL, SANFL, QAFL etc?

 

[Cunnington Cartel]

The Rac mascot could be a woman who... well, never mind.

Could be some Colombian Cartels lining up to sponsor as well…

 

[Bjo187]

I'm not saying the Rams isn't a clever name that ticks most of the boxes, but the one box it doesn't tick could leave a sour taste in the mouth.

I think you and I disagree on the importance of AFLW. Especially in a market like Canberra. I expect the AFLW to grow and become an increasingly important part of each club. I'd say the AFL wants the same so would probably veto a name like the Rams.

Personally, I actually see Canberra's AFLW team entering early as a soft launch, growing the brand and fandom before Manuka is big enough for a men's team.

I'm also a bit bitter about the Rams abandoning St Louis. How could they?!

I was trying to play around with other potential acronyms. If anybody can make a mascot out of Rascals, that's the best word I could make fit (Riverina, ACT, South Coast, Albury).

Obviously, I'd still support the Canberra Rams, but it'd be well down the list of my preferred options.

M for Murray needs to find it's way in too if possible. The other thing I like about the Rams is the horn can be easily used in the shape of the C for Canberra. Either in the logo or jumper that would be an easy symbol.

Either that or I dunno if you saw this floating around. The background of the jumper is parliament house, I think they could make a cool design with this, but not as a background but a prominent green on a blue background for example.

 

[Coolangatta]

Could be some Colombian Cartels lining up to sponsor as well…

Clayton Oliver to star...

Okay, that was dark. Poor bastard.

 

[BigChippa52]

M for Murray needs to find it's way in too if possible. The other thing I like about the Rams is the horn can be easily used in the shape of the C for Canberra. Either in the logo or jumper that would be an easy symbol.

Either that or I dunno if you saw this floating around. The background of the jumper is parliament house, I think they could make a cool design with this, but not as a background but a prominent green on a blue background for example.

View attachment 1886028

trust me as good as the ram horn letter idea is you don't want that better off going with a Ram head and this is coming from a Rams fan our logo is horrid

 

[BigChippa52]

 

[BigChippa52]

trust me as good as the ram horn letter idea is you don't want that better off going with a Ram head and this is coming from a Rams fan our logo is horrid

for my horse idea for canberra, I used a horse shoe in the branding for a C and it worked very well

 

[Canberra Pear]

M for Murray needs to find it's way in too if possible. The other thing I like about the Rams is the horn can be easily used in the shape of the C for Canberra. Either in the logo or jumper that would be an easy symbol.

Either that or I dunno if you saw this floating around. The background of the jumper is parliament house, I think they could make a cool design with this, but not as a background but a prominent green on a blue background for example.

View attachment 1886028

My understanding is that the Rams never included the Murray. The M stood for Murrumbidgee. Albury is on the Murray and the Riverina extends to the Murray, so it's pretty much covered.

That's a cool looking guernsey. I wonder if they were initially thinking of using it instead of their Telstra Tower ones.

It's also reminiscent of the one the Canberra Demons used in the NEAFL as a nod to Parliament House.

 

[Coolangatta]

Canberra Mars Rovers? Best rovers in the league.
Canberra Arms Dealers? Shooting our way to the premiership cup!

Canberra Mars Bars in black and white, prison bars, a love letter to Eddie.
Arms dealers could be sponsored by the Taliban, who knew the ACT could make them come around to gender equality.

 

[Bjo187]

My understanding is that the Rams never included the Murray. The M stood for Murrumbidgee. Albury is on the Murray and the Riverina extends to the Murray, so it's pretty much covered.

That's a cool looking guernsey. I wonder if they were initially thinking of using it instead of their Telstra Tower ones.

It's also reminiscent of the one the Canberra Demons used in the NEAFL as a nod to Parliament House.

View attachment 1886036

I love the rams logo, dunno why . Although anything with LA in it looks cool. I also like their colours.

Correct it's for murrumbidgee but I always assumed murrumbidgee just referred to cities on the Murray.

Funnily enough I only found out about this rams thing this year from my mate at work that played for nsw/act, he even brought his old jumper in to show me. From memory he went through the jumper and the different colours and what it all represented too. Was a colorful jumper with reds, greens etc

 

[speedpeck23]

But it is. Just because you say it's not important doesn't make it so.



If that's the case, then Canberra also makes way more sense. A team representing 1.1m people in southern NSW in a contested area on the Barassi Line. It would represent a great opportunity to shore up support in that region.

It would also create an opportunity to play three more games in huge 5m-person metropolis of Sydney. Or take some games to the nearly 1m-person Hunter/Central Coast.

NSW/ACT has a combined population 35 times that of the NT. That's where the opportunities are.



Once again, I'm not against the NT if it could be pulled off. I just don't think it could be.

Especially considering Team 20 would likely come in the next decade and it just isn't ready at this stage.

As the main base of operations, Darwin needs a massive population boom. Even if optimistic projections of 180k by 2032 come true, it's still a tiny base for an AFL team.

You're right. Things are always changing. But things can't change that quickly.

Didn't say that money wasn't important...it has to be part of it. Creating opportunities was about creating opportunities in life for people in NT who are are on average significantly disadvantaged compared to our friends in Canberra. I'm glad you are not against the NT having a team if it can be pulled off.

With the draft and salary cap, matches played all round the country, AFL Clubs have players from anywhere, supporters from anywhere. Supporters relocate, players relocate. It's about building a Brand (love the graphics for the Rams...but NT is already a far bigger Brand than the Rams could ever be) and getting a crowd to the ground and broadcasting the match.

The Tassie team will be interesting . Most players will come from elsewhere (majority probably from Victoria), most will probably not reside long term in Tassie during their footy career. Who knows they may even have a secondary training base and accommodation in Melbourne. I don't think that would be a problem in representing Tassie and it would probably help player retention. The main thing is the benefits that will flow to the people of Tasmania both socially and financially if it is a success.

In other words we will learn a lot about setting up an AFL club with a big brand in a small population base with a boutique stadium. Broadcast rights with flexibility of broadcast time is likely to be the biggest income driver for the Tassie team along with guaranteed boost to tourism.

 

[Walshawk]

If it ever panned out, they would be bitter rivals - to the equivalent of any others in the league. They’re even trying to build a second prison down there cause there has been a North v South dynamic between the inmates for generations. Like we said, it’s a better option for Tassie to unite instead of divide.

Although my point still stands re VFL. This is probably the wrong thread for this; however, there’s only going to be about 14 spots for non-AFL listed locals to play for Tassie’s VFL team. There’s also no state league after this year, so 14 spots for those who aspire to play at a level above regional footy is not enough for a whole state.

Having a second non-aligned VFL team would provide an opportunity for another 30-40 of Tassie’s best players to test themselves at the best level they can (just like how Southport operates in the VFL). Surely this would be better for footy in Tassie rather than losing all of these types of players to other clubs in the VFL, SANFL, QAFL etc?

Making up a team out of nothing is difficult and expensive. You need dozens of volunteers. NT Thunder didn’t last long. Southport is an exception as they have plenty of cash.

The Deviis will have a VFL squad of around 30 like Box Hill, etc does. Plenty of opportunities for player who want to test themselves.

 

[BigChippa52]

I love the rams logo, dunno why . Although anything with LA in it looks cool. I also like their colours.

Correct it's for murrumbidgee but I always assumed murrumbidgee just referred to cities on the Murray.

Funnily enough I only found out about this rams thing this year from my mate at work that played for nsw/act, he even brought his old jumper in to show me. From memory he went through the jumper and the different colours and what it all represented too. Was a colorful jumper with reds, greens etc

red green blue and white a lot of colors then they switched to double blue and yellow

 

[BigChippa52]

I based my retro design on this kit and logo at this time which someone happily provided me with the 90's logo in good quality

 

[BigChippa52]

Their current logo is a recolor of the LA Rams previous logo

 

[BigChippa52]

alt kit

main kit (I really like this design)

 

[BigChippa52]

Looks like they switched to double blue and yellow when the left victoria comps

 

[Coolangatta]

alt kit

main kit (I really like this design)

So do I.

I also like the name Canberra-Riverina Rangers.

 

[Cunnington Cartel]

Making up a team out of nothing is difficult and expensive. You need dozens of volunteers. NT Thunder didn’t last long. Southport is an exception as they have plenty of cash.

The Deviis will have a VFL squad of around 30 like Box Hill, etc does. Plenty of opportunities for player who want to test themselves.

I hear what you are saying. It’s a really tough ask - particularly since a side in that position would be off Broadway compared with the AFL side. If Aspley couldn’t/didn’t want to sustain it then an expansion side would have no chance unless they got some serious external funding from the governing body &/or business community.

In saying that. AFL Tas no longer need to fund a state league. The AFL announced a 10-year $360m funding package for Tassie last year. Potentially some funding could be allocated from that as well.

North Launceston and Launceston are not happy about going back to regional football. There’s a possibility that they might want to get involved in an initiative like this because they are genuinely concerned about losing players and it has already started, so they may be able to assist with volunteers etc.

With what I have read, VFL lists for aligned clubs can be up to 30 players:

• 15 Category A / Primary and
• 15 Category B / Development (under 22’s, NGA’s, internationals, converts from other codes).

Therefore, that’s only 15 list spots for the best players in the state who are over 22 and they’ll be competing for game selection each week against AFL-listed players as well. It’s not great - considering there’s no state league for these types of players to compete in and the next tier down is regional football.

Furthermore, all of these players would be required to relocate to Hobart. If someone from Launceston, Devonport or Burnie needs to move to Hobart to try and play at a decent level (with only limited opportunities on offer) then they’ll might as well relocate to Adelaide, GC or Melbourne?

Standalone clubs can have 28 Category A and 12 Category B, so my rationale is to provide an extra 40 spots. I hope they have some kind of a plan in place for this issue or we’ll be bleeding talent in a huge way. Particularly from the North of the state, and long term this will have a domino effect on the quality of footy at all levels.

FYI, Southport have just signed up Hugh Dixon - that brings them to a total of 6 ex-Tasmanians on their list and that’s just one club!

 

[BigChippa52]

Rip TSL, need to make an even top Tassie comp and bring back Sandy Bay

 

[Cunnington Cartel]

Rip TSL, need to make an even top Tassie comp and bring back Sandy Bay

After South, Devonport and Burnie all left the TSL, it was always destined for failure because it stopped being a genuine state wide comp.

 

[MelbourneGWS]

I think that strong lobbying from the state/territory government will play a key role in AFL’s decision on the 20th team, as seen in Tasmania being selected as Team 19? There does not seem to be strong government lobbying for the inclusion of Canberra or WA3 from their respective state jurisdictions. Only NT has had their territory government lobby for the inclusion of their side as team 20, and as previously pointed out by many in this thread, Canberra and WA3 are far stronger candidates for team 20 than a NT team.

We have our territory election in October 2024, and neither Barr or Elizabeth Lee currently seem to have team 20 in their radar. Barr seems content with the status quo arrangement - and the state of our ACT budget, the Tram and its impact on other government services including hospitals seem to be the main focus of the Liberal opposition.

 

[Bjo187]

I think that strong lobbying from the state/territory government will play a key role in AFL’s decision on the 20th team, as seen in Tasmania being selected as Team 19? There does not seem to be strong government lobbying for the inclusion of Canberra or WA3 from their respective state jurisdictions. Only NT has had their territory government lobby for the inclusion of their side as team 20, and as previously pointed out by many in this thread, Canberra and WA3 are far stronger candidates for team 20 than a NT team.

We have our territory election in October 2024, and neither Barr or Elizabeth Lee currently seem to have team 20 in their radar. Barr seems content with the status quo arrangement - and the state of our ACT budget, the Tram and its impact on other government services including hospitals seem to be the main focus of the Liberal opposition.

Which is better for footy, Barr or Lee winning?

 

[Canberra Pear]

Which is better for footy, Barr or Lee winning?

Barr is a big AFL fan. He's said before in a reddit AMA "If the AFL are financially able to support a 20th team, Canberra would be a logical choice."

I reckon Barr would be secretly ecstatic if we got a team. But he also has to remain balanced publicly, with two rugby teams and a potential A-League team, he can't be seen too much in favour of oval sports (cricket's a bit easier). He's also careful not to upset the Giants relationship. So at this stage, I can completely understand why Barr wouldn't be publicly pushing for a team.

I'm not too sure on Lee's sport policies, but it doesn't matter, Lee will never win. Would be good if she got behind it though as an election goal. It would at least put it more into the public sphere and spark more discussion.

 

[eastfreo75]

Perth Panthers which would be a combined Perth, East Perth and West Perth.

Colors would Red, Black and Blue.

They play Fremantle and West Coast twice, which gives the WA teams 13 games at Optus oval and 9 interstate games.

Pre-season they can play each other and reduce the travel.