A huge asset for the AFLs ongoing growth in SEQ is the Olympic Stadium development. Stadia is a major cog in the wheel of growth and will enable the game and the Lions have unprecedented facilities to showcase the game and drive corporate involvement.
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AFL overtaking NRL in QLD
- Thread starter pulpdriver
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Issue they’ve got is they still have to sit under the salary cap. It’s not like the old days when ‘the AFL will just give him an extra $2M to stay’. It doesn’t work like that. Simply, if he gets a $1M a year deal, that money will come from the same pit needed to retain Rowell, Lukosius et all..,
Yeah, I wouldn't read too much into what they said. Everything points to the decision being based on what news limited would concede. What is definitely not going to happen is the NRL putting a team in one of these other "corridors" in the future.
Maybe Darren Lockyer would have kept with Australian football. The point is you wouldn't expect the academies to land most of the duel code kids for a while yet
RedV3x
It's about time some mods started being fair
A lot of people keep talking about the "threat" of AFL.
"Parramatta chief executive Denis Fitzgerald predicts league and rugby will eventually amalgamate to form a code that could repel the growing threat of Australian Football."
I don't get it on so many levels.
Has the NRL capitulated to soccer ?
Do the NRL seriously think AFL is the problem ?
Wouldn't improving the NRL product be better than another example of the same troubled product?
Are NRL officials really so desperate as to consider merging ?
"Parramatta chief executive Denis Fitzgerald predicts league and rugby will eventually amalgamate to form a code that could repel the growing threat of Australian Football."
I don't get it on so many levels.
Has the NRL capitulated to soccer ?
Do the NRL seriously think AFL is the problem ?
Wouldn't improving the NRL product be better than another example of the same troubled product?
Are NRL officials really so desperate as to consider merging ?
Bjo187
Premiership Player
- Apr 30, 2020
- 3,153
- 4,154
- AFL Club
- Essendon
A lot of people keep talking about the "threat" of AFL.
"Parramatta chief executive Denis Fitzgerald predicts league and rugby will eventually amalgamate to form a code that could repel the growing threat of Australian Football."
I don't get it on so many levels.
Has the NRL capitulated to soccer ?
Do the NRL seriously think AFL is the problem ?
Wouldn't improving the NRL product be better than another example of the same troubled product?
Are NRL officials really so desperate as to consider merging ?
Agree it actually makes me think the afl are making a lot more inroads than i thought the level of fear coming from these rugby characters.
A lot of people keep talking about the "threat" of AFL.
"Parramatta chief executive Denis Fitzgerald predicts league and rugby will eventually amalgamate to form a code that could repel the growing threat of Australian Football."
I don't get it on so many levels.
Has the NRL capitulated to soccer ?
Do the NRL seriously think AFL is the problem ?
Wouldn't improving the NRL product be better than another example of the same troubled product?
Are NRL officials really so desperate as to consider merging ?
Given Jack Gibson died in 2008 and it refers to David Gallop being CEO, I suspect that article is a touch dated!
It’s because league doesn’t want to fight on two frontsA lot of people keep talking about the "threat" of AFL.
"Parramatta chief executive Denis Fitzgerald predicts league and rugby will eventually amalgamate to form a code that could repel the growing threat of Australian Football."
I don't get it on so many levels.
Has the NRL capitulated to soccer ?
Do the NRL seriously think AFL is the problem ?
Wouldn't improving the NRL product be better than another example of the same troubled product?
Are NRL officials really so desperate as to consider merging ?
AFL is big domestically with vast money and resources
Rugby is fairly irrelevant domestically but is big business internationally and there are overseas investors looking to buy into the wallabies and raise the profile of them once more
It leaves league in a delicate position
The NRL's answer to AFL expansion into Queensland is now a reality with the Dolphins playing their first ever NRL preseason game last weekend (they won). Word is they've secured 15,000 members already and it would appear they haven't really stolen any members from the Broncos who have 26k members and are on track to equal their 2022 tally of 30k members.
Should be fascinating to see how the Dolphins fit into the Queensland sporting landscape and whether their existence hurts the Lions and/or Suns.
Should be fascinating to see how the Dolphins fit into the Queensland sporting landscape and whether their existence hurts the Lions and/or Suns.
I don't think the Lions will be losing too much sleep over it. The Dolphins will likely draw most of their fanbase from their traditional home of Redcliffe and surrounding areas, whereas the Lions have been making a push into Ipswich with their training base now being in Springfield. It would have been a much greater worry had the Ipswich bid been chosen over the Dolphins.
You're just going to completely ignore all the work the Lions put into Burpengary? AKA the Moreton Bay region that the Dolphins are based in.
Sometimes I think Lions fans have ridiculously short memories and just pretend like the club never had issues. I remember vividly in 2015 when the Lions were languishing on the bottom of the ladder, regularly losing their best young players to other clubs and averaging 15-18k to home games at the Gabba meanwhile the Broncos were averaging 33k to home games at Suncorp and played in the Grand Final that year. At the end of the day, Brisbane is still very much a rugby league dominated city and the NRL increasing its presence with a new franchise in the market would certainly be something the AFL are keeping a VERY close eye on.
I didn't realise the Lions had more members than the Broncos. Turns out the Lions had 43k last year.
I know AFL has a different membership culture, and the Lions have a portion based in Melbourne, but getting 40% more members than the biggest team in the state is pretty impressive.
Yes. Burpengary was never truly home and not an area we invested heavily in.
I have no idea what you're talking about. I have never pretended the club never had issues.
So what? We're not talking about the Broncos here.
I don't recall disputing that. The Broncos are still the biggest club in town. I'm just not really worried by the Dolphins since their footprint is not in the area we're trying to expand in.
RedV3x
It's about time some mods started being fair
Yes, will they become a Dockers and pick up disenfranchised Bronco people
or will they be a P.A. Power - strong at first but unable to draw from the wider community.
The only way a different team/code can hurt a team is pick up potential newbies in the future.
A marker would be whether the Dolphins attract oldies or youngsters as fans.
Bjo187
Premiership Player
- Apr 30, 2020
- 3,153
- 4,154
- AFL Club
- Essendon
I posted elsewhere that Tony Cochrane has been spouting the figure of participation increasing in QLD from 30 to 300k in the past 10 years. That's some pretty impressive statistics, however, as with all these things, unsure if the numbers are counting things like a one day visit of some Suns players to a school and a 20 minute kick around with 50 school kids as 'participants'.
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So tens times (1000%) the participation? He is dreaming. Looking at the number of junior teams, maybe 50% up. Which is brilliant!
Lord_Flashheart
Chicken Twisty Epicurean
The numbers are closer to 100k up to 300k and include Auskick, Community Clubs, School Comps and School Intro Programs.
Like all these things the fudge the numbers to make it look better
The only thing that really matters is how many kids start playing club footy. That is up by around 50% - 60% over the past 10 years.
Kids doing a clinic at school and not liking it doesn’t really help anyone.
Playing devils advocate a bit here. How much of that growth is in male participation? Not to discount girls taking up the game but a lot of girls who have taken up the game in the last ten years already came from footy families.
Lord_Flashheart
Chicken Twisty Epicurean
Bjo187
Premiership Player
- Apr 30, 2020
- 3,153
- 4,154
- AFL Club
- Essendon
The first 3 count, including the school comps, the one I question is the 150k participation for the 'School intro programs'.
Edit that* Maybe you can count it, it might not just be a suns or lions player showing up for a day, but an actual school program over a number of weeks. If that is the case (the website made me click about 5x so maybe ended up somewhere different), that would be very very impressive.
Australian Football
Sporting Schools is an Australian Government initiative designed to help schools to increase children's participation in sport, and to connect them with community sporting opportunities.
RedV3x
It's about time some mods started being fair
What point are you trying to make ?
What point are you trying to make ?
Just after further context
There is very detailed information about participation and player numbers in Queensland and its regions from 2014-19.
It shows that on the Gold Coast, there was a big increase in "participation" but this was mostly just AFLQ development officers running school programs and comps.
In the critical club/Auskick/AFL 9s segment, there was a substantial increase in female numbers of about 900 players but alarmingly a decline of about 200 male players. Female players surged nationwide during that era and this was prior to GC having an AFLW team.
The decline in male club players given the big investment in the Suns and strong population growth in the region lays bare Cochrane's boasts about an organisation he led and its role in growing the grassroots of the game in Queensland as total exaggerations or indeed outright rubbish. The decline in male club players in the GC region shows that.
With the AFL comp relocating to SEQ in 2020 and the rise of the Lions there has probably been good growth in club players across Queensland since then. A successful Suns in the future would be part of any further growth but it didn't happen under Cochrane's leadership.
https://www.aflq.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/AFLQ-Facilities-Plan-2020-2025.pdf (at 33)
It shows that on the Gold Coast, there was a big increase in "participation" but this was mostly just AFLQ development officers running school programs and comps.
In the critical club/Auskick/AFL 9s segment, there was a substantial increase in female numbers of about 900 players but alarmingly a decline of about 200 male players. Female players surged nationwide during that era and this was prior to GC having an AFLW team.
The decline in male club players given the big investment in the Suns and strong population growth in the region lays bare Cochrane's boasts about an organisation he led and its role in growing the grassroots of the game in Queensland as total exaggerations or indeed outright rubbish. The decline in male club players in the GC region shows that.
With the AFL comp relocating to SEQ in 2020 and the rise of the Lions there has probably been good growth in club players across Queensland since then. A successful Suns in the future would be part of any further growth but it didn't happen under Cochrane's leadership.
https://www.aflq.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/AFLQ-Facilities-Plan-2020-2025.pdf (at 33)
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