AFL Alienation

[Demonic Ascent]

Agreed. Are you suggesting I am leaving the Suns as a fan? No, that is not correct - I am still a Suns fan, I just won't be as active as previously. The Suns are my team.

Stick with them mate, things will turn around. 5 years ago I went to the footy every week thinking "if we get within 10 goals today that's a good result". We had senior players wanting out every year and promising draft picks turning into busts. This year we made a prelim.

Gold Coast has started investing more resources into its FD and Academy programs to help with recruitment and development in particular of local talent. This will help mitigate against flight risks. They have also appointed a savvy head coach in Stuart Dew who will help turn the culture around.

There may be more short term pain with Lynch and May leaving but the journey will be worth it in the long run. Things will turn around you just need the right people in charge making the right decisions. The AFL won't let the club fail as a healthy Gold Coast Suns is integral to a strong national competition.

Also you should be able to watch On Demand through the WatchAFL app/website so you won't have to lose sleep watching the side get thumped. Watch it the next day (like I do with the NFL) with the added benefit you can skip through some parts of the team is not playing well.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

Yes, the Suns have made some bad decisions but, the AFL does let players dictate where they would like to play. That tilts the league in Victoria's favor. They need to adjust how trades are handled and provide the clubs with more control.

Agree with this, the AFL agreed to FA but didn't give the clubs anything in return. Clubs should have the ability to trade contracted players without consent allowing them to get the best deal. That way May would not be able to shop himself around. If he wants to leave he goes where the Suns get best deal or he plays out his contract and leaves as a FA next year.

 

[Ogopogo]

Also a cultural thing. Not sure how it is in Canada but majority of Australians where they are born they usually hang around there. Doesn't mean we don't move cities for a couple years but we always find ourselves in our home towns. Just so happens Victoria has a lot of grassroots footy.

In Canada, I find that most people leave the town they grew up in. I certainly did and, have no intention of going back. Different culture, I suppose.

 

[Ogopogo]

The hypocrisy is immense. You label the players cowards for leaving due to lack of success, yet you're doing the same thing.

Clearly you didn't read my entire post. I am and will always be a Suns fan.

 

[Tulip]

I have really sympathy for what you're going through. Watching your club constantly make bad decisions and be punished for them is very difficult, I remember that all too well. I think you need to direct your blame at club admin though, not the players who are sick of losing games in a foreign city and spending their lives at a dysfunctional club. GC will be better for Lynch leaving, he was no leader, and they should let May go too. Give the captaincy to David Swallow, he wants to be there. Tony Cochrane should go with them. GC needs stable leadership and Dave Matthews can't do it all himself. Appointing a first year coach without senior mentorship was a horrible decision too.

 

[swiftdog]

Hello all. I really discovered the game of Australian football back in 2013 and have experienced six full seasons of the AFL. It's hard to believe, 6 years of staying up late here in Canada to watch my club - the Gold Coast Suns.

Some of you may have spent five minutes to read my post back then about the joy I had in discovering the sport: https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/the-afl-a-foreigners-perspective.1011811/#post-28638361

Today, I am posting for a very different reason. I believe the business of the AFL is flawed and the league is broken. What do I mean by that?

As a Suns fan, I have experienced a lot of losing the past 6 years. 38-93-1 has been the Suns' record since I started following the club back in 2013. Many nights, up at 1, 2, 3 am watching the Suns play...the house was quiet it was three hours of uninterrupted bliss each week. Yes, the losses are hard to take but it made the victories all the sweeter.

As much as I love the sport, the business side has to work to make the sport worth watching. Pro sport leagues like the EPL really don't appeal to me that much because the richest clubs compete for the championship each year while 14 or 15 others can only hope to not be relegated. The clubs are either first class or no class and most everybody knows where their club stands. I like Everton, for the simple fact they came to Edmonton to play a friendly about 10 years back, but, I know they will likely never win the league. Money rules and Everton is not one of the rich clubs.

Of course, the AFL is different. It is more like NHL hockey where everybody has a chance because of a salary cap and draft structure - that is equal opportunity and that is what every sports fan craves. My team doesn't have to win every year, they just need equal opportunity with finances and other inequalities levelled. Each club could have any player, if they were smart enough to draft or trade for them; rich clubs and poor clubs are on level ground because of the cap.

That is what I thought the AFL was - equal opportunity and one day, the Suns will get their chance at a flag. It was exciting, I was a new fan so I selected a new club to follow. I was going to grow with them and share in the hardships as well as the success. What I have discovered, six years later, is that there isn't an equal chance for success. With the current structure of the football business, the Suns will likely never have a chance to compete for a flag.

Yes, the Suns were given concessions at the start of their existence - which is only fair. When you are starting a new club from nothing, you need to toss them a bone to begin. The interesting thing with that bone is, the bone walked away! Players the Suns had drafted high, the players that were here build this club from nothing into a financially viable, competitive side, decided rather than put in the hard work of building a winner on in Queensland, they would rather take the easy route and go to an established winning club.

Jaeger O'Meara, Dion Prestia, Charlie Dixon, Adam Saad and now Tom Lynch, Steven May and more, all threw in the towel and asked to be traded. All of them refused to be adults and take on the responsibility of building a winner at a new club - they preferred to be passengers elsewhere. Granted, Gary Ablett spent many years here trying to build a winner but, eventually bailed as well.

The problem with the AFL is that the league allows the inmates to run the asylum. Some will argue that the players have the right to play where they want but, that damages the equity of the game. How can you possibly build a fan base in a new market when all of the best players decide to leave? Some are "home sick", some want to win now but really, they are abdicating their responsibility to the people of the Gold Coast. They are cowards; essentially killing football in the region.

Gold Coast is a thriving area that is a great market for football. All they need is hope, a chance, maybe the opportunity to play finals and they can capture the attention of the entire city. Hope is what we had in 2014 when the Suns finished just 8 points shy of a finals spot. The games were exciting and the future looked bright...but, key players kept asking to leave. A beautiful city, with a great opportunity in front of them and key players would rather run back to Melbourne - the path of least resistance. Why pioneer, why build something great when you could just ride as a passenger on the hard work of others?

Of course, the Suns receive high draft picks in exchange for their best players....who then turn into good players that want to leave as well. The Suns are little more than a farm club, supplying the Victorian teams. There is no hope. No draft pick compensates or satisfies...we know the future, those players will leave.

The point of footy on the Gold Coast is to tap into a new market, spread the game and to make money long-term. That is a noble cause, there is nothing wrong with those goals. Given enough time and success, footy can be a Gold Coast passion as is rugby. Many in Victoria will trash the club and call for its demise. To what gain would be that demise? How is the game of football better if there is no longer an AFL club on the Gold Coast? Is there anything at all to be gained by the folding of the Gold Coast Suns - other than to stroke the egos of some closed-minded Victorians? The truth is, there is much to be gained by the success of the Suns and nothing to be gained by the failure. The fact that people delight in the lack of success on the Gold Coast is puzzling. They must have some sick, twisted elitist attitude to think football belongs to them alone and cannot be shared.

As it stands, fans like me are at a crossroads. 6 seasons ago, I fell in love with the sport and enjoy it immensely...but, when my club has no chance of ever winning flag or making finals, it is hard to get excited to stay up very late in Canada to watch them get thumped each week. I can only imagine how hard it is for members to continue to pay good money to attend games that always end in devastating losses. The current state of the Suns is killing the fan base it was once building. I will admit, I probably only watched 2 of the last 11 Suns games this year - by fluke, one was the win over Sydney. It it just too difficult to be disappointed every week, knowing the light at the end of the tunnel is actually a train.

At this point, I am not sure I will renew my AFL Global subscription for next season. I probably won't buy more Suns merchandise and I may only follow the scores on the AFL app on my phone. I see no reason to get excited for the 2019 season...more beatings...more players wanting out...more useless draft picks that turn into players we develop for Richmond or Hawthorn.

I wish you all well next season and beyond. My six-year AFL joy ride was incredible but it appears to be winding down. Suns football used to be can't-miss TV for me, now it feels like too much effort to stay up late and watch. I will be a Suns fan for as long as they exist, it is just no longer fun to be an "active" fan.

Maybe one day the league will change and the Suns will be great. Maybe then I will be glued to AFL Global each week like the old days. It would be nice but, it seems like little more than a foolish pipe dream.

The sport is still great - one of the most entertaining on the planet. I may still watch occasionally. I am sure to take heat for my thoughts but really, equal opportunity for all clubs is what makes a sports league work. Without that opportunity, the league is failing its paying customers.

Many will see this as me whining but, it is really the AFL alienating a fan base and losing the money we spend.

End rant. I feel better now.

One of the best posts I've seen on here. I suspect the majority disagree but the main issue in my opinion with the Gold Coast Suns is the rest of the AFL world's attitude towards Gold Coast. It's not seen as a club the same way that Collingwood, Port Adelaide, Richmond are seen as "clubs". Instead, Gold Coast are a "franchise" used to expand into enemy territory when the "real footy fans" don't care about having another team in South East Queensland. What these people fail to realise though is that Gold Coast is made up of people such as yourself who love footy and love their club just as much as I do Collingwood. Yet, because the club is new and doesn't have as many supporters/members we're being told that Gold Coast is a club... sorry "franchise", that should be looked down upon (like the clubs we support were never once new with few supporters/members). We're told that the best players shouldn't waste a career on the Gold Coast but instead be where the action is playing on the MCG every week.

Now I'm sure that some of Gold Coast's issues are of their own doing. I can understand players like Lynch and May wanting to leave after spending a significant period of time at the club. It seems to me though that every year there are players wanting out that have only spent a couple of years (or even less) at the club. I find it hard to believe that Gold Coast provide such a poor environment that relatively new players want to leave because of it. No (and I obviously don't know any of these players personally), I believe that these players have grown up in an AFL environment where we're told (at least on a subconscious level) that decent players shouldn't play for Gold Coast. Playing for Gold Coast isn't something to aspire to. Maybe, the onus should be on the rest of the AFL world to start treating Gold Coast like an actual club for the first time in their existence. Maybe then they can build the "culture" that means players want to stay. Constantly telling the rest of the AFL world that Gold Coast isn't the place to be (including current and future players) certainly isn't helping though.

 

[Hawk_francais]

After the debacle of the Brisbane Bears and the years of effort needed to stabilise a team in Brisbane, it's still amazing to me that the AFL created another one.

It's no player's responsibility.

 

[dzussy]

Why do they not fill the stadium when the Hawks play in Tasmania? Too small of a population or, is the passion for football not as much as we think?

I reckon people down there are a bit over it. The tassie faithful want their own team that they can identify with. The Suns are an endless money pit and always will be. The AFL are too stubborn to admit it, and cut their losses.

 

[Roobs321]

buyer's remorse.

there are some pretty successful clubs in the modern era which spent decades not winning flags. there are also clubs whose flags are separated by decades. richmond, one of the comp's biggest and oldest clubs spent 30 years in the wilderness until recently.

if you're not willing to suffer the teething problems inherent to a brand new side then you should have been more discerning when picking your colours.

To be fair, no club other than the Kangaroos has arguably had a threatened existence these last two decades. The Suns are experiencing that bleak insecurity. And whilst clubs spend long periods without success, or even without finals, they still had reasonable, painting-over-the-cracks seasons among the poor seasons (i.e. Richmond's ninthmonds, Melbourne in 2010-11. Carlton in 2004). There were happy, successful times to look back on, or family memories to share. Or they were talked about by opposition fans, had historical rivalries (Sun's have had a similarly listless Brisbane for much of their existence).

The Suns have been bottom 4 for 4 straight seasons, going 4-17-1, 6-16, 6-16, 4-18. Their percentage in that time was below 80%. All of those seasons had diabolical patches of form. And their two leadership figures appear to be leaving.

Brisbane on paper weren't much better, bottom 4 every year, 5-17 at best, but what they showed in 2018 had an enterprising sense of substance and belief, something Suns fans haven't had for much duration since the Ablett injury in 2014. There are months where the on-field Suns side plays with earnest heart, tries to stay in games competitively even if the scoreboard doesn't reflect that, but it never seems to lead anywhere, finds continuity.