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20th AFL Team

Which location will be the home of the 20th AFL team?


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Riverina is 300-600km away from the ACT.
Rather than be included in a catchment they could pitch for their own team

Cairns is 2700 kms from Darwin but your happily forcing them together to fit your pet idea.
 
Darwin is 1500km from Alice Springs, or are you only counting players from the Darwin region?

Also there's only about 25000 people in the Riverina. worse than Canberra, but obviously much bigger than Darwin.
Darwin has more than 25000. ACT is its own territory as is NT. Team represents the region.
But if you look at Darwin Tiwi area vs act Queanbeyan Darwin has it comfortably beat.
The Riverina is its own footy community
 

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Darwin has more than 25000. ACT is its own territory as is NT. Team represents the region.
But if you look at Darwin Tiwi area vs act Queanbeyan Darwin has it comfortably beat.
The Riverina is its own footy community

Are you just making stuff up? Greater Darwin had a population on 139,902 at the 2021 census, it's on the ABS website.

Indeed the whole of the NT only had 232,605, which less than the half of Canberra/Qeanbeyan, let alone the broader region. It's also still smaller than the Riverina.
 
Are you just making stuff up? Greater Darwin had a population on 139,902 at the 2021 census, it's on the ABS website.

Indeed the whole of the NT only had 232,605, which less than the half of Canberra/Qeanbeyan, let alone the broader region.
You referred to the Riverina as having 25000.
Stop shifting the goal posts
 

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Riverina is close to the ACT, very productive football wise but not large enough to support their own team and doesn’t have a large enough city to host a team.
Canberra with 2-3 matches in Albury makes sense.

I think you're at risk of running into the issue GWS is where there aren't enough home games to build momentum. Canberra is more of an AFL town than Western Sydney, but think starting off with 1 game in Albury a year and one pre-season game in Wagga would probably be enough.
 
Point taken, obviously I missed a zero. Never the less, The Riverina has a population of about 250,000 which is more than the whole NT, and has a better claim of a team (not that it should get one either).
So if I get shit hung on for suggesting a northern Australian team and contrition surely trying to.muscle in on a different state with its own contribution is up for debate
 
So if I get shit hung on for suggesting a northern Australian team and contrition surely trying to.muscle in on a different state with its own contribution is up for debate

Only if you really care about arbitrary borders. Canberra is the closest city of 500k+ near the Riverina, Manuka oval being closer than either the MCG or Marvel to Albury, which is as close to Melbourne as it gets. Wagga and the Riverina Lions were both in the ACTAFL/AFL Canberra for years, but withdrew due to travel costs, Cootamundra still play in the lower levels. When people in the Riverina need a major hospital they come to Canberra, same if they want to send their kids to a Group of 8 Uni or go to Ikea or Uniqlo or whatever.

People in Colac still go for the cats even though they're not in Greater Geelong. People from Tweed Heads still go for the Suns (if they support AFL).

The furthest part of Riverina is closer and better connected to Canberra than Cairns is to anywhere in the NT, let alone Darwin. People think it's facetious because they're half the country away with no direct travel links, not because they're in different jurisdictions.
 
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My personal view is that a Canberra team should be playing all its regular season men's games in Canberra. At absolute most, one game away (Wagga).

I think it would be good to play regular preseason and AFLW matches in Wagga. Maybe rotate it around a bit to Narrandera, Griffith, South Coast etc.

Albury is pretty much equidistant between Canberra and Melbourne. I would leave that for a Victorian team. Canberra would make a good opposition though.

But the difference between Canberra games in the Riverina and splitting games between Darwin in Cairns is the purpose. A northern team would rely on Cairns game to financially strengthen their bid. Riverina games would mostly be a form of giving back, but Canberra wouldn't actually financially rely on those games.
 
My personal view is that a Canberra team should be playing all its regular season men's games in Canberra. At absolute most, one game away (Wagga).

I think it would be good to play regular preseason and AFLW matches in Wagga. Maybe rotate it around a bit to Narrandera, Griffith, South Coast etc.

Albury is pretty much equidistant between Canberra and Melbourne. I would leave that for a Victorian team. Canberra would make a good opposition though.

But the difference between Canberra games in the Riverina and splitting games between Darwin in Cairns is the purpose. A northern team would rely on Cairns game to financially strengthen their bid. Riverina games would mostly be a form of giving back, but Canberra wouldn't actually financially rely on those games.
I think Canberra and GWS would be ideal candidates as away teams playing in the Riverina against a Victorian club.
 
My personal view is that a Canberra team should be playing all its regular season men's games in Canberra. At absolute most, one game away (Wagga).

I think it would be good to play regular preseason and AFLW matches in Wagga. Maybe rotate it around a bit to Narrandera, Griffith, South Coast etc.

Albury is pretty much equidistant between Canberra and Melbourne. I would leave that for a Victorian team. Canberra would make a good opposition though.

But the difference between Canberra games in the Riverina and splitting games between Darwin in Cairns is the purpose. A northern team would rely on Cairns game to financially strengthen their bid. Riverina games would mostly be a form of giving back, but Canberra wouldn't actually financially rely on those games.
The problem is that Wagga doesn't have an AFL standard stadium but Albury does (and Albury-Wadonga is twice the size of Wagga). Plus none of the Melbourne teams seem keen to play there, if they're selling games to rural Victoria they're going to Ballarat.

The Riverina is Canberra's closest secondary market, and Albury-Wadonga is the biggest city in the Riverina, but it isn't any of the Melbourne's teams closest or biggest options.
 
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One of the few things I envy of the USA how the people from a certain city will be fans of all the teams from there inlike he it either your with us or against us.

One of the issues is there aren't that many one-team towns in Australia.

Brisbane's probably a good exception (with the Dolphins only a relatively new addition). The Lions and Broncos seem to get a lot of crossover support.

Canberrans generally get behind the Canberra team regardless of sport. The Raiders, Caps, Brave all have a lot of support. Would be the same any AFL team here. One-team towns mean you get a lot of support for the city as well as well as the sport.
As someone from Brisbane I go for the Lions and the Broncos.

I was lucky enough to obviously see both my AFL and NRL team win the premiership in the same year, BUT I was even luckier to actually be able to attend both grand finals and see BOTH my teams win in the flesh. I also have a mate who travelled down from Brisbane to Canberra for the Broncos finals win against the Raiders then down to Melbourne two weeks later for the AFL grand final (and then ran out of money to travel for the NRL grand final).

As for Canberra I know people who go for the Raiders and their own AFL team. Although I haven't asked if they would swap for a Canberra team. But in practice there would be a lot that would.
 
The problem is that Wagga doesn't have an AFL standard stadium but Albury does (and Albury-Wadonga is twice the size of Wagga). Plus none of the Melbourne teams seem keen to play there, if they're selling games to rural Victoria they're going to Ballarat.

The Riverina is Canberra's closest secondary market, and Albury-Wadonga is the biggest city in the Riverina, but it isn't any of the Melbourne's teams closest or biggest options.

If we were looking for a genuine secondary market to support the bid, I think Albury would make sense. But for AFLW and preseason matches, Wagga more than fits the bill. Robertson Oval has already hosted both.
 

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