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I've been kinda bored this evening so I've been pondering what the AFL will look like in 2025 and what developments would have happened to the game across the nation and internationally.
Let's begin~
Before looking at the football developments, let's have a quick look at the demographic shifts that have occured in Australia in the last 18 years up to now (2025).
The population topped 24.5 million late last year in 2024 and the same population trends which have occured over the last 40 years have continued with Queensland, Western Australia, and to a lesser extent, the Northern Territory having the highest growth rates; whereas Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT have maintained steady growth. NSW - in particular, Sydney, still receives the most immigrants yet this is counterbalanced by steady interstate migration north or west. Despite a substantial number of sea-changers and retirees moving to Tasmania and increased efforts to provide more new jobs in Adelaide to entice more internal and external migration. The populations of South Australia and Tasmania have had a moderate increase in the last two decades.
Sydney now has a population just over 5 miliion with NSW's population now getting close to 7.7 million. Melbourne's got a population of around 4.4 million with Victoria having a population of 5.9 million, Brisbane now has a population close to 2.6 million people and Queensland has around 5.4 people. WA now has 2.8 million people, 2.2 million of which live in Perth; 1.2 million of SA's 1.7 million people live in Adelaide; ACT has over 365,000 people; NT has just 250,000 people, 150,000 of them live in Darwin; and Tasmania has just over 500,000 people.
Now let's get to the football and football-related developments.
Subiaco Oval completed an expansion in 2010 raising capacity to 65,000, which many thought at the time was inadequate and a poor decision compared with just building a new, larger stadium. This was proved to be correct with Eagles, and to lesser extent, Dockers matches frequently nearing capacity. The situation was alleviated in 2015 with the introduction of a new Perth-based team, the Perth Pirates into the mix. They play out of a new stadium complex south of Perth with a capacity of 50,000. The Pirates and Dockers play out of the new stadium with big matches involving these sides played at Subiaco, West Coast use Subiaco as their permanent base.
Adelaide and Port still both play out of Football Park, or Lenovo Superdome - named after the huge Chinese computer corporation - in its latest incarnation. The Superdome has undergone some redevelopment over the years and now has a capacity of 65,000 people. Showdown matches are usually sold out weeks in advance.
Let's have a look at the home of football now, Melbourne. The MCG still exists in its majestic glory. A couple of minor redevelopments but nothing major since the construction of the Northern Stand all those years back. The Telstra Dome, plagued by problems throughout much of its history, was knocked down in 2013 and re-opened in time for the 2016 season as a new 65,000 stadium - now called the Sing-Tel Dome - following a similar design to the old stadium but utilising modern technology. We're clever these days, we worked out how to grow grass even under roof! The new Samsung Stadium, with a capacity of 40,000, in Melbourne's south-east was opened in 2018 with the Saints based there and the Hawks playing four home games out of there (more on that later). Richmond, Melbourne and Collingwood play out of the MCG, whereas Essendon, Carlton and Geelong are based out of the Sing-Tel Dome. Blockbusters and other big drawing matches are still played at the G however.
Geelong are based essentially a Melbourne side these days with their administration and training base at Werribee. They now only play two games a year at Mitsubishi Park (Kardinia Park), one being during the Heritage round and the other against a low drawing side, usually against the North Australia Alliance.
The Tassie Hawks are based at GM Holden Hyperdome in Launceston, though still play four games a year at Samsung Stadium in SE Melbourne. The Hyperdome has a capacity 35,000 these days after considerable redevelopment over the years. The Hawks made Tasmania their base in 2011, following their flag in 2009.
Sydney now has two teams, the Swans and the Bulldogs, and three stadiums. The Swans are still based at the SCG, which through ongoing redevelopments now holds 60,000. The Bulldogs play mainly out of Blacktown's Google Dome, which holds 30,000. Bulldogs-Swans derbies and other large drawing matches are played from Yahoo! Stadium (Stadium Australia), which has a similar capacity to before but with a retractable roof. The Bulldogs relocated to Sydney in 2013 after further pressure from the tightening Melbourne market and interstate powerhouses.
SE Queensland has two teams as they have had for 15 odd years now. The Kangaroos relocated in 2009 and formed an alliance with Southport Sharks, playing out of the Crazy John's Carrara Oval, which holds 40,000. The Brisbane Lions, moved to a new stadium once the Gabba was unable to support their crowd figures. They now play out of a new stadium of 65,000 in Brisbane's north, called the Honda Stadium.
The Canberra Bushrangers also entered in 2014 after a relatively long wait for ACT/Riverina-Southern NSW footy followers. They play out of a new 45,000 stadium built out back of Canberra on what was previously a cow paddock. As such, it's nickname is 'The Paddock'.
The North Australia Alliance entered the league in 2018 and are based in Darwin but play four games a years in Cairns. Marrara, which somehow has evaded the whole corporation branding phenemenon, now has a capacity of 36,000 after significant redevelopment over the years. The Cairns stadium, once known as Cazaly's, has a capacity of 32,000.
The NZ Aces are the final side which make all the AFL, they entered along with the Alliance in 2018. There are based in Wellington but play once a year in both Christchurch and Auckland. They are based in a stadium which holds 30,000 people. The Aces are still working to develop a firm hold in the New Zealand sporting psyche, somewhat similar to what happened with the Swans and to a lesser extent, the Bears/Lions many years ago. A lot of other team supporters are annoyed at the draft/travel and living concessions the Aces receive from the AFL, but the AFL are adamant about the presence of an AFL side in New Zealand following significant growth in footy participation in NZ in the last two decades. The Aces are allowed to exclusively recruit any NZ-born player without that player having to go through the draft, which angers many. At the moment, 15 players on the Aces squad are New Zealand born along with 5 Samoans, 2 Tongans and three Fijians.
more to come in the next post ...
Let's begin~
Before looking at the football developments, let's have a quick look at the demographic shifts that have occured in Australia in the last 18 years up to now (2025).
The population topped 24.5 million late last year in 2024 and the same population trends which have occured over the last 40 years have continued with Queensland, Western Australia, and to a lesser extent, the Northern Territory having the highest growth rates; whereas Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT have maintained steady growth. NSW - in particular, Sydney, still receives the most immigrants yet this is counterbalanced by steady interstate migration north or west. Despite a substantial number of sea-changers and retirees moving to Tasmania and increased efforts to provide more new jobs in Adelaide to entice more internal and external migration. The populations of South Australia and Tasmania have had a moderate increase in the last two decades.
Sydney now has a population just over 5 miliion with NSW's population now getting close to 7.7 million. Melbourne's got a population of around 4.4 million with Victoria having a population of 5.9 million, Brisbane now has a population close to 2.6 million people and Queensland has around 5.4 people. WA now has 2.8 million people, 2.2 million of which live in Perth; 1.2 million of SA's 1.7 million people live in Adelaide; ACT has over 365,000 people; NT has just 250,000 people, 150,000 of them live in Darwin; and Tasmania has just over 500,000 people.
Now let's get to the football and football-related developments.
Subiaco Oval completed an expansion in 2010 raising capacity to 65,000, which many thought at the time was inadequate and a poor decision compared with just building a new, larger stadium. This was proved to be correct with Eagles, and to lesser extent, Dockers matches frequently nearing capacity. The situation was alleviated in 2015 with the introduction of a new Perth-based team, the Perth Pirates into the mix. They play out of a new stadium complex south of Perth with a capacity of 50,000. The Pirates and Dockers play out of the new stadium with big matches involving these sides played at Subiaco, West Coast use Subiaco as their permanent base.
Adelaide and Port still both play out of Football Park, or Lenovo Superdome - named after the huge Chinese computer corporation - in its latest incarnation. The Superdome has undergone some redevelopment over the years and now has a capacity of 65,000 people. Showdown matches are usually sold out weeks in advance.
Let's have a look at the home of football now, Melbourne. The MCG still exists in its majestic glory. A couple of minor redevelopments but nothing major since the construction of the Northern Stand all those years back. The Telstra Dome, plagued by problems throughout much of its history, was knocked down in 2013 and re-opened in time for the 2016 season as a new 65,000 stadium - now called the Sing-Tel Dome - following a similar design to the old stadium but utilising modern technology. We're clever these days, we worked out how to grow grass even under roof! The new Samsung Stadium, with a capacity of 40,000, in Melbourne's south-east was opened in 2018 with the Saints based there and the Hawks playing four home games out of there (more on that later). Richmond, Melbourne and Collingwood play out of the MCG, whereas Essendon, Carlton and Geelong are based out of the Sing-Tel Dome. Blockbusters and other big drawing matches are still played at the G however.
Geelong are based essentially a Melbourne side these days with their administration and training base at Werribee. They now only play two games a year at Mitsubishi Park (Kardinia Park), one being during the Heritage round and the other against a low drawing side, usually against the North Australia Alliance.
The Tassie Hawks are based at GM Holden Hyperdome in Launceston, though still play four games a year at Samsung Stadium in SE Melbourne. The Hyperdome has a capacity 35,000 these days after considerable redevelopment over the years. The Hawks made Tasmania their base in 2011, following their flag in 2009.
Sydney now has two teams, the Swans and the Bulldogs, and three stadiums. The Swans are still based at the SCG, which through ongoing redevelopments now holds 60,000. The Bulldogs play mainly out of Blacktown's Google Dome, which holds 30,000. Bulldogs-Swans derbies and other large drawing matches are played from Yahoo! Stadium (Stadium Australia), which has a similar capacity to before but with a retractable roof. The Bulldogs relocated to Sydney in 2013 after further pressure from the tightening Melbourne market and interstate powerhouses.
SE Queensland has two teams as they have had for 15 odd years now. The Kangaroos relocated in 2009 and formed an alliance with Southport Sharks, playing out of the Crazy John's Carrara Oval, which holds 40,000. The Brisbane Lions, moved to a new stadium once the Gabba was unable to support their crowd figures. They now play out of a new stadium of 65,000 in Brisbane's north, called the Honda Stadium.
The Canberra Bushrangers also entered in 2014 after a relatively long wait for ACT/Riverina-Southern NSW footy followers. They play out of a new 45,000 stadium built out back of Canberra on what was previously a cow paddock. As such, it's nickname is 'The Paddock'.
The North Australia Alliance entered the league in 2018 and are based in Darwin but play four games a years in Cairns. Marrara, which somehow has evaded the whole corporation branding phenemenon, now has a capacity of 36,000 after significant redevelopment over the years. The Cairns stadium, once known as Cazaly's, has a capacity of 32,000.
The NZ Aces are the final side which make all the AFL, they entered along with the Alliance in 2018. There are based in Wellington but play once a year in both Christchurch and Auckland. They are based in a stadium which holds 30,000 people. The Aces are still working to develop a firm hold in the New Zealand sporting psyche, somewhat similar to what happened with the Swans and to a lesser extent, the Bears/Lions many years ago. A lot of other team supporters are annoyed at the draft/travel and living concessions the Aces receive from the AFL, but the AFL are adamant about the presence of an AFL side in New Zealand following significant growth in footy participation in NZ in the last two decades. The Aces are allowed to exclusively recruit any NZ-born player without that player having to go through the draft, which angers many. At the moment, 15 players on the Aces squad are New Zealand born along with 5 Samoans, 2 Tongans and three Fijians.
more to come in the next post ...
If it is Samsung Stadium (a former major sponsor of the hawks) - most of our support is out that way - wouldnt we be based there? 
Well now I know your real agenda. 
