Expansion 3rd Western Australian club

[Rob]

It'd have to somehow be affiliated with the Demons(Perth FC) wouldn't it?
Surely you couldn't take an existing club's name in that state and have no connection.

You know there was a West Coast already in Perth in 1987 don't you? But they were an amateur club so no-one gave a shit.

Perth Demons today are only slightly more relevant now than West Coast Amateurs was back then.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Talent's spread too thin with 18 teams as it is. Relocate Gold Coast to Tasmania and be done with it for now. Two teams is enough for WA.

Way, way, WAY down the track when the population can support it, expansion to 20 teams should be focussed on the eastern states (NSW, ACT, maybe QLD).

 

[NoobPie]

Talent's spread too thin with 18 teams as it is. Relocate Gold Coast to Tasmania and be done with it for now. Two teams is enough for WA.

Way, way, WAY down the track when the population can support it, expansion to 20 teams should be focussed on the eastern states (NSW, ACT, maybe QLD).

So disband a queensland team that has 9 seasons of history under its belt so that way way WAy down the track we can add one back again?

 

[Coach_Required]

3rd WA side would mean the 2 current teams could play 2 extra games in Perth a year with less travel. How can you not think that is a good idea?

Personally I hope they don't as it might mean Richmond would have to come over here more and less games at the G

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

So disband a queensland team that has 9 seasons of history under its belt so that way way WAy down the track we can add one back again?

Remove QLD from the list then if it makes it easier. I was thinking somewhere other than the graveyard of Australian sporting franchises but don't know QLD well enough to suggest a location.

 

[kranger]

3rd WA side would mean the 2 current teams could play 2 extra games in Perth a year with less travel. How can you not think that is a good idea?

Well it would most likely only be 1 less game of travel for each tram, which would be the current teams ‘away’ game to a third team. As the current teams ‘home’ game to a third team would just replace a non-WA team from having to travel to Perth.

 

[FootyJunkie]

Joondalup will be created more out of convenience than necessity.

 

[Rob]

First time i've seen the issue discussed in mainstream local media. Seemingly not a lot of early support, but we'll see where it goes.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

If Tassie gets a team, WA is ripe for another one too

Momentum is growing behind Tasmania’s bid for an AFL side. But if the league adds a 19th team, it would have to add a 20th as well. Ryan Buckland puts forward the case for a third WA presence.

thewest.com.au

Behind a paywall - anyone subscribe to The West?

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Not quite sure how you do it in Perth.

I mean, to build a supporter base it needs to be local to those supporters, ie in a new spot.

I assume they’d play at Optus, so not sure how that happens.

 

[Billy ray]

Not quite sure how you do it in Perth.

I mean, to build a supporter base it needs to be local to those supporters, ie in a new spot.

I assume they’d play at Optus, so not sure how that happens.

It needs to be set up like a melb team. Lots of GA. Ticket 25. Can roll up andsit with your mates

 

[FootyJunkie]

Promoting West Perth to the big league as "Joondalup" and having them play at Optus seems like the only option to entertain for this.

If its good enough for Freo to have never played a game for points in Freo and playing all their games 20km up the road, then it should ok for Joondy to do the same from up north.

However, Joondalup is still not a very convincing option.

Only WAFL Falcon fans will be on for the ride.... at least in the first decade or so.
When Joondalup are at the bottom the ladder, it will be time to bring out the tarps at Optus because there won't be enough fans to care... like what happened with Port at AAMI several years ago.

I'd love to see a third WA side, but the NOR vs SOR has already been covered.
All you really got left to fall back on are the smaller WAFL fan bases compared to the two AFL sides.

Joint-venture bids like combining West Perth with East Perth/Perth (Perth United) is just messy and unworkable with rival fans, with West Perth no doubt dominating the "partnership" anyway.

West Perth going alone seems the biggest of the WAFL lot and they do have a base in the outer north which would give the AFL somewhat of a geographic balance out west with West Coast becoming more of "central/inner suburbs" Perth side than a blanket NOR one. Some support would be taken away from the Eagles, which is key for a third side having any sort of fan base to start with, but it would not be much.

Any new side needs to be based in the vicinity of Perth to make use out of the world class stadium in Optus, which is under-utilised.
Going for some Geelong-esque arrangement in the SouthWest with Mandurah/Bunbury or out east in the hills area would be laughable in the AFL's eyes.

AFL would like having the TV time slot options of Friday Night double headers and Sunday Night, though.

 

[Rob]

It needs to be set up like a melb team. Lots of GA. Ticket 25. Can roll up andsit with your mates

That only works if you're drawing 50k a game.

If you're only drawing 25k a game, you need millions a year in AFL money to survive. And i'm not sure a 3rd team would get close to even that.

 

[kranger]

So I just posted this in the Freo team specific thread for this topic, and I figured these population numbers are relevant here too.

Well between the Cities of Wanneroo and Joondalup they are projected to grow from 320,000 to 740,000 residents by 2050. At that time Perth would have a population of 3.5million, with the 400,000 additional residents in Joondalup and Wanneroo being a third of all additional residents from Perth’s current population of 2.2million.

That could be your target area. Especially when you add in the population of the City of Swan which includes areas like Ellenbrook and Bullsbrook etc with an overall population projection to grow from 110,000 to 290,000 residents.

https://www.dplh.wa.gov.au/perth-and-peel-@-3-5-million-frameworks

You could split Perth into thirds, each with about 1million residents to feed from.

The third team sets up in Joondalup to focus on all the suburbs north of Reid Hwy.

The Eagles take a focus on the central suburbs south of Reid Hwy and north of Leach Hwy, focused around their base at Mineral Resources Park.

And Freo take the southern suburbs and Peel that are south of Leach Hwy focused around the HQ at Cockburn (including Fremantle).

 

[flamingEMBERS]

So I just posted this in the Freo team specific thread for this topic, and I figured these population numbers are relevant here too.

I like the thinking that maybe we could have a third, I just don't think you'll get West Coast only focusing on a third of the city. The club focuses on the whole state.

 

[kranger]

I like the thinking that maybe we could have a third, I just don't think you'll get West Coast only focusing on a third of the city. The club focuses on the whole state.

Your right, it would be hard to prevent marketing spill from one club into the other areas. Especially since media outlets cover state wide.

You just have to see how the current suburbs of Perth and towns of WA tend to have supporters of both Eagles and Freo. Especially as people move homes.

But what I was thinking, in regards to the three teams focusing on a third of Perth each, was for footy clinics at schools and local clubs. The clinics which are targeted at getting the next generation into AFL, which is important in sustaining the sport.

It’s hard for the two teams to get to every school in WA with a population of 2.5million (1.25m each), especially when compared to the 10 teams in Victoria for their population of 5million (0.5m each).

It will be harder to get to all the schools in WA if there is a population of 4million and there are still only two teams.

Despite splitting Perth into thirds for the three teams as a general basis in particular for growing the game, each of the teams can still do the rest of their marketing through Perth and the State however they want.

 

[The_Reaper]

Or just have Canberra as team 20 if we must have a Tassie team.

 

[FootyJunkie]

Or just have Canberra as team 20 if we must have a Tassie team.

Would prefer Canberra than WA3... but it's Giants territory atm, more $ in WA3

 

[Kwality]

Would prefer Canberra than WA3... but it's Giants territory atm, more $ in WA3

The today problem for the AFL is the demand in WA with oversupply in Melbourne.

 

[Carringbush2010]

I like the thinking that maybe we could have a third, I just don't think you'll get West Coast only focusing on a third of the city. The club focuses on the whole state.

Actually the whole state focuses on WC and Freo not the other way around, support for these two are automatic. They don't need to go campaigning for members, prospective members have to wait in line.

I don't see public support for a 3rd WA club unless it's a big big wafl club that will take fan base from Freo and WC.

 

[Admiral Byng]

I can't see a third team in Perth working.


Maybe a 3rd team in WA, but it would have to be based in a regional city. Right now no regional city is big enough to support a WAFL team let alone an AFL team. Unless there is some huge economic and demographic boom so that some regional city grows to half a million people. But there is slim chance of that happening within the next 25 years.

 

[Carringbush2010]

The today problem for the AFL is the demand in WA with oversupply in Melbourne.

Is there an under supply problem in WA for AFL clubs? Probably not, no fan from Freo or WC are going to jump ship.

You keep spruiking the oversupply in vic line in every possible thread, do you have solid evidence that vic clubs in the AFL are not viable? If so why are they still in the comp now?

Remembering of course that the AFL is fan base reliant than most other top tier leagues world wide - the members and supporters keep the clubs going. Yeah sure you'll say that the AFL props up certain clubs - not least the clubs north of the Murray. Every club receives funding from the AFL even Collingwood (the highest publicly profile club and WC probably the richest).

NFL and EPL clubs are by and large privately owned and are unlikely to go under due to oversupply. If anything if there is not enough bums on seats and couches for the AFL clubs become unviable.

You're suggesting then that some vic clubs are not viable, if so those clubs would not be in the competition.

 

[Righteo]

I can't see a third team in Perth working.


Maybe a 3rd team in WA, but it would have to be based in a regional city. Right now no regional city is big enough to support a WAFL team let alone an AFL team. Unless there is some huge economic and demographic boom so that some regional city grows to half a million people. But there is slim chance of that happening within the next 25 years.

It would have to be a team representing the SW region based in Bunbury, and there'd need to be significant investment from the government, high-speed rail from Perth maybe. but yeah, that's at least 3 decades away. Tassie and Canberra being the next cabs off the rank makes the most sense to me.

 

[Admiral Byng]

It would have to be a team representing the SW region based in Bunbury, and there'd need to be significant investment from the government, high-speed rail from Perth maybe. but yeah, that's at least 3 decades away. Tassie and Canberra being the next cabs off the rank makes the most sense to me.

Or even a city that doesn't exist yet...

 

[RedV3x]

It would have to be a team representing the SW region based in Bunbury,

A team from the SW centred on Bunbury would have been a good idea for the WAFL (before the WAFL Eagles) IMO.
To get any team up and running in the AFL it's a good idea to set the foundations - Bunbury in the WAFL, Tasmania in the VFL or NEAFL etc.