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

[Coolangatta]

Ridiculous there is not a team called Perth coz a second division team has that name. Surely there are work arounds, they play in a different competition. Just have their name online etc as Perthsharksfc.com.au or something.

Yeah, like I said I reckon North Perth Sharks is a safe play for WA3. Link them up with Arena Joondalup for 2-3 home games there against clubs that might not draw a 30k crowd at Optus. I reckon Eagles, Dockers and the big six VIC clubs would get 30k or more a game at Optus, even in year 1. Neutrals and travellers will come.

 

[Cmarsh]

Ridiculous there is not a team called Perth coz a second division team has that name. Surely there are work arounds, they play in a different competition. Just have their name online etc as Perthsharksfc.com.au or something.

Why does it even matter?

 

[Canberra Pear]

Surely a third Perth team needs a point of difference.

If it were the first team, sure, call it Perth. But calling a team Perth now would give it no point of difference over West Coast.

 

[Thedeftouch]

Seem some suggestions about Far North Queensland… the last game played there in 2022 got 6,600 people (50% capacity). This is what after 10 years of exhibition games in Cairns. They just don’t like AFL up there.

 

[Coolangatta]

Surely a third Perth team needs a point of difference.

If it were the first team, sure, call it Perth. But calling a team Perth now would give it no point of difference over West Coast.

I guess they could call them Joondalup then but in that case you might as well bring in the Falcons. Basil and others will like it but you’re going to alienate people like me and my father who grew up as Royals supporters and supporters of other clubs who hate West Perth.

They’d have to be a brand new franchise. Joondalup Bullsharks? Keen on a shark franchise being in the comp (I know it doesn’t work for Canberra unless the mascot is a politician not an actual shark ).

 

[Canberra Pear]

I guess they could call them Joondalup then but in that case you might as well bring in the Falcons. Basil and others will like it but you’re going to alienate people like me and my father who grew up as Royals supporters and supporters of other clubs who hate West Perth.

I'd be fine with North Perth, or any variation of, just not Perth by itself.

They’d have to be a brand new franchise. Joondalup Bullsharks? Keen on a shark franchise being in the comp (I know it doesn’t work for Canberra unless the mascot is a politician not an actual shark ).

Does a WAFL team being called the Sharks affect that?

It'd be like a third Adelaide team being called the Redlegs with no relation to Norwood.

 

[Purple Suit]

Yeah, like I said I reckon North Perth Sharks is a safe play for WA3. Link them up with Arena Joondalup for 2-3 home games there against clubs that might not draw a 30k crowd at Optus. I reckon Eagles, Dockers and the big six VIC clubs would get 30k or more a game at Optus, even in year 1. Neutrals and travellers will come.

They’re not playing games at Joondalup. It’s 30 minutes from Optus, save on the upgrade costs. If you have the new team mainly on the weekend by themselves with Freo/WC on the same weekend they’ll get heaps of fans due to the novelty. If you make it cheaper, even more.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

There’s three WAFL teams with Perth in their name. It won’t matter.

Even if it doesn't matter to fans, it will legally. The new club would have to purchase the name like the Brisbane Lions did, or they'll get sued.

But aside from that, would this new club be trying to appeal to the entire city, with no geographic distinction? If so, I think they'd struggle harder for fans in the short term. They wouldn't become the club of choice across the city for at least 50 years, if ever. Freo at least had a geographic distinction to give them a fanbase to start with, instead of just being an inferior version of the Eagles.

The smarter thing to do would surely be to base the club further away from the existing ones, north of the river. And if they want a local fanbase there, a vaguely local name would be better than just the generic "Perth". I mean, would you switch away from supporting Freo for a generic Perth club?

North Perth Sharks is boring but safe. I can’t imagine the club not gaining support over time.

Can't imagine East Fremantle would be that wild about another club being called Sharks, though most names can be purchased.

 

[Bjo187]

Why does it even matter?

I just feel you need a team representing the city by name, in the second biggest football state in the world. The name alone is good marketing to local residents. They can be based in Joondalup of course, but to get supporters from all over the city name Perth would help significantly over generations.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

I just feel you need a team representing the city by name, in the second biggest football state in the world. The name alone is good marketing to local residents. They can be based in Joondalup of course, but to get supporters from all over the city name Perth would help significantly over generations.

Sometimes, when you try to appeal to everyone, you end up appealing to no one. There's a reason the second Perth AFL team, the second Sydney AFL team and the second Brisbane NRL team all had a real point of difference in geography and identity than the first ones.

 

[GenericUsername202]

Seem some suggestions about Far North Queensland… the last game played there in 2022 got 6,600 people (50% capacity). This is what after 10 years of exhibition games in Cairns. They just don’t like AFL up there.

Depends where in QLD. Sunshine Coast and Cairns have a huge AFL presence. I lived in cairns for a while and AFL is almost as widely supported as league is. Sunshine coast makes the most sense given its growth, but i feel it would harm the lions too much.

 

[Canberra Pear]

Depends where in QLD. Sunshine Coast and Cairns have a huge AFL presence. I lived in cairns for a while and AFL is almost as widely supported as league is. Sunshine coast makes the most sense given its growth, but i feel it would harm the lions too much.

The issue with Cairns is a bit its level of AFL support, but the bigger issue is its size.

If Cairns had 500k - 1m people, its level of AFL support would be workable. But with 160k people, it's not.

People point out Townsville and the Cowboys, but Townsville is much more pro-NRL than Cairns is pro-AFL.

 

[Gibbke]

That's a pretty accurate description of the Gold Coast. It was very much a small regional town full of tourism ventures / gimmicks and retirees in the 1980s. The population in 1990 was approximately 250k and then we saw the first real boom of southern migration moving to the GC in the 90s. By the time the year 2000 rolled around, the population had grown to just under 400k - so the city essentially doubled in size over the period of a decade and it was mostly due to Melburnians and Sydneysiders moving here. As time went on, the five town mentality diminished and it began to be seen as one whole city. The southerners that moved here in the 1990s already had their own AFL / NRL affiliations and were unwilling to adopt the local team/s as their own so pro teams continued to struggle for support over that duration and, inevitably, they all folded.

However, the southerners who moved here in the 1990s / early 2000s who decided to stay and raise kids here were going to have a huge influence on what we're seeing now. Their kids were either born here or spent most of their childhood here and didn't/don't feel the same level of affiliation to their parents' teams based down south. By 2010 the GC population had gone well north of 500k and that generation of young people who grew up on the Gold Coast offered an opportunity for strong levels of support if one of the pro teams could get it right. Unfortunately, neither the Titans or Suns took advantage of that opportunity in the 2010s when it was really up for grabs and a generation of genuine born / raised Gold Coasters are most likely lost as a result.

Now, in 2025, those Gold Coasters who were born here / moved here as kids in the 1990s / early 2000s have kids of their own and are looking for activities to get them involved in. At the grassroots level, the AFL / Suns are doing a fantastic job of drawing Gold Coast kids into the game and that's expressing itself through the recent academy graduates + successes at the VFL level with Southport & Suns reserves as well as the GC teams in state league QAFL level. The last step is for the Suns to experience on field success and really cultivate a culture of support for the local team within the Gold Coast community because a significant portion of people under the age of 40 living on the GC these days were either born or raised here and there's definitely a level of pride in the city that didn't exist in the past. I'm certain you will see that pride come out once a team gives the community a reason to be proud of them and we'll see much bigger crowds showing up to games here.

The next 5-10 years are going to dispel a lot of preconceived notions about the Gold Coast and I really think we're going to see the Gold Coast community embrace the Suns as a team that represents them in a way that they can be proud of. The bonus is we're going to see a lot of Gold Coasters playing for the Suns over the next decade and that's huge in itself in terms of growing the game here because getting to the AFL looks achievable for these kids and those who dream of playing for the Suns one day will be afforded that opportunity if they're good enough. Gold Coast junior Dayne Zorko has talked in the past about how unattainable an AFL career seemed for a kid from the Gold Coast when he was coming through in the late 2000s / early 2010s and that issue appears to have been addressed.

Don't underestimate the strong foundations that have been set up at the grassroots level on the Gold Coast. As you said, the Gold Coast is ready to explode and the last piece of the puzzle is the Suns having sustained on field success.

Were you there during the Chargers years? The Seagulls had just died after 1995, and as I was moving there a wacko businessman backed a replacement team...all sorts of pre-season turmoil, and they parted ways just as the season started, getting away with a few breaches because the ARL had bigger fish to fry...8 teams forfeited matches in Round 1 because the ARL had just beaten Super League in court to stop them starting in 1996...

Chargers sucked in 1996, but when Superleague began in 1997, RL was split right down the middle and the Chargers were able to capitalise. A second half of the season winning streak, and suddenly the whole Coast went nuts in following them...sellouts at Carrara, and probably the only feelgood story for the entire season...the sport was gutted Australia-wide, but they had an underdog hero in the middle of it all...

They were out after the following season, unable to beat Rupert Murdoch off field...I'm wondering where the tidy $4m they had in profits went after that...! I honestly think though that the Chargers had a hand in GC's transformation from a backwater with skyscrapers into today's burgeoning big city, and the mentality behind it all. It was the only time I was there that you could sense a united GC, and not that other crap we both described above...

 

[Gibbke]

Depends where in QLD. Sunshine Coast and Cairns have a huge AFL presence. I lived in cairns for a while and AFL is almost as widely supported as league is. Sunshine coast makes the most sense given its growth, but i feel it would harm the lions too much.

Nah...way too far! The AFL has some support in Cairns v virtually none in Townsville, but RL is utterly supreme in this entire region...

 

[Gibbke]

Tasmania are not getting 2 teams. Let's be honest, they're only given a team because it's a romantic idea. Not because it's a financially viable proposition. The growth is non existence there, it's outside the 5 metro tv ratings market zone (so advertisers will be less likely to support them) and the conditions there are awful to play football during the winter months, which is why AFL are insisting on a roof. the only thing worse than a second tasmania team would be a darwin team, because even if you ignore the terrible player retention issue and the lack of growth and small crowds, the conditions there are unplayable for an AFL season. Canberra, a NQLD team and a WA team are really the only viable options here. Although, i would imagine West Coast and fremantle will resist another WA team, because it would only harm them and it would cause a dip in their crowd figures. Canberra seems the obvious one, but i would move GWS there because i simply think the west sydney experiment failed. A new QLD team would only make sense after the olympics as i think the lions still need to a grow a lot before another team is placed here.

They got a team because it's the point of f###ing football!!! Laughable coming from a Queenslander...

Footy has nothing to do with growth, demographics, expansion, memberships or corporates, and everything to do with beating those f###ing c###s up the road or over the border. THAT is the product. Damned straight it's a romantic idea, and now we have the best of both worlds with the means to pay for it. This is why we do it. Tassie is not there to service a demographic - we are there because we want to smack mainlanders around for those months where we aren't playing cricket or basketball, in our main sport...

Tassie got in because the TV rights went over 4b, which meant that the bottom line of the bid was guaranteed to put the side in the black because they get an automatic dividend from those rights. They are officially financially viable, that's rubber stamped. Every other argument was a romantic or historical one, and the decision to include them has been almost unanimously positive because of that pedigree. Tassie has well and truly earned and deserves their place in a national comp...

And playing conditions...you ever been there? They're fine. Mind you, mainland recruits will be asked if they're squeamish about weather...the Devils will be a No Pussies zone...

 

[Freomaniac]

But west coast is perth. Surely we cant have two teams effectively from the same location.

What type of excuse is this?

9 teams in Melbourne.

Another Perth based side would be fine

 

[Coolangatta]

What type of excuse is this?

9 teams in Melbourne.

Another Perth based side would be fine

No, he’s right, one team in Melbourne it is! I guess it’s gotta be the Demons as they carry the Melbourne name. Buh bye Pies, Hawks, Blues, Tigers, Bombers, Saints, Dogs, and Roos!

 

[GC2015]

Were you there during the Chargers years? The Seagulls had just died after 1995, and as I was moving there a wacko businessman backed a replacement team...all sorts of pre-season turmoil, and they parted ways just as the season started, getting away with a few breaches because the ARL had bigger fish to fry...8 teams forfeited matches in Round 1 because the ARL had just beaten Super League in court to stop them starting in 1996...

Chargers sucked in 1996, but when Superleague began in 1997, RL was split right down the middle and the Chargers were able to capitalise. A second half of the season winning streak, and suddenly the whole Coast went nuts in following them...sellouts at Carrara, and probably the only feelgood story for the entire season...the sport was gutted Australia-wide, but they had an underdog hero in the middle of it all...

They were out after the following season, unable to beat Rupert Murdoch off field...I'm wondering where the tidy $4m they had in profits went after that...! I honestly think though that the Chargers had a hand in GC's transformation from a backwater with skyscrapers into today's burgeoning big city, and the mentality behind it all. It was the only time I was there that you could sense a united GC, and not that other crap we both described above...

Before my time, but I've heard stories about Jeff Muller and his failed Gold Coast Gladiators venture. Must have been a wild time to be a rugby league fan on the Gold Coast.

 

[Seeds]

What type of excuse is this?

9 teams in Melbourne.

Another Perth based side would be fine

You have misread. Im advocating for another perth team. Just not called perth cos west coast is already perth. All melbourne teams have different locations across melbourne as their home. I.e. western bulldogs home is footscray. All other melbourne teams location is obvious.

 

[Gibbke]

Before my time, but I've heard stories about Jeff Muller and his failed Gold Coast Gladiators venture. Must have been a wild time to be a rugby league fan on the Gold Coast.

It was great! GCers, who were all Mexicans anyway, at the time didn't get angry with anything, because they were there to not give a f### and just enjoy the beach and nightlife...no one moved there to watch footy. But this happy little bonus came along, because not only was the GC suddenly good at something, but they happened when their favourite sport was taking a hammering from people everyone hated, particularly Murdoch and the Broncos. It was probably the first time the GC felt like a united front...

 

[GC2015]

It was great! GCers, who were all Mexicans anyway, at the time didn't get angry with anything, because they were there to not give a f### and just enjoy the beach and nightlife...no one moved there to watch footy. But this happy little bonus came along, because not only was the GC suddenly good at something, but they happened when their favourite sport was taking a hammering from people everyone hated, particularly Murdoch and the Broncos. It was probably the first time the GC felt like a united front...

That's interesting to read. I always wondered why the Chargers folded. Seemed like very short term thinking from the NRL/ARL.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

Ridiculous there is not a team called Perth coz a second division team has that name. Surely there are work arounds, they play in a different competition. Just have their name online etc as Perthsharksfc.com.au or something.

Perth City Numbats or whatever seems the obvious workaround; if anything needs to be done at all.

 

[Coolangatta]

Perth City Numbats or whatever seems the obvious workaround; if anything needs to be done at all.

I don’t think there’d be any issues. I still think North Perth Sharks would be the safest bet.

Have their training base at Arena Joondalup and get them engaged with the locals as much as possible. Play pre season games there.

Market the derbies against Freo as a north versus south of the river rivalry.

Again, this is if they ignore ACT.

Otherwise, bring on the Canberra Rams playing 11 home games at upgraded Manuka with Riverina/ACT academy.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

I don’t think there’d be any issues. I still think North Perth Sharks would be the safest bet.

Have their training base at Arena Joondalup and get them engaged with the locals as much as possible. Play pre season games there.

Market the derbies against Freo as a north versus south of the river rivalry.

Again, this is if they ignore ACT.

Otherwise, bring on the Canberra Rams playing 11 home games at upgraded Manuka with Riverina/ACT academy.

I was only talking about any conflict with WAFL Perth.
But also am assuming WA3&4 are teams 21 and 22 (or 19 and 20 if Tasmania falls over). Perth City as one and North Perth or Joondalup District or whatever the other.
Four teams in Perth is far more viable than one in Tasmania.

 

[Coolangatta]

I was only talking about any conflict with WAFL Perth.
But also am assuming WA3&4 are teams 21 and 22 (or 19 and 20 if Tasmania falls over). Perth City as one and North Perth or Joondalup District or whatever the other.
Four teams in Perth is far more viable than one in Tasmania.

New franchises are probably the way to go to maximise growth and not alienate people.

If two more Perth teams I’d go with North Perth Miners and East Perth Sharks.

2x games at Optus per week would be sweet. I’d be almost tempted to do it as teams 21 and 22 instead of anywhere else.