AFL Sydney?

[gocats]

Hey all

I was wondering if anyone knows how the local AFL in sydney is going.

I think it would be great if they did some changes like,

*With the TD18 comp, start the AFLSYDNEY season in RD 2 of AFL season
*Have a Match of the Round that is a curtain raiser to a Swans home game.
*Play the Grand Final at Telstra Stadium as a Curtain Raiser to a Sydney Swans RD 22 Home game at Telstra Stadium.
*Use the Swans more to try boost local comp.

What do others think?

Also they are playing at a ground called Henson Park, is this the new AFL Sydney main home ground?


Cheers.

 

[stmookeyj]

Swans play in the Canberra comp, so ideas of a curtain raiser are almost out the window.

Henson Park used to be a league ground, but was always an oval.

 

[ben.carbonaro]

The Swans actually play in the AFL Canberra competion, reason bewing because they were dominating AFL Sydny which resulted in an uneven competition.

They moved to AFL Canberra is a much more level compeition, where teams who play against them would not be beaten by ten goals plus like what was happening regularly when they played in Sydney comp.

 

[gocats]

Maybe they should have a Canberra Swans and Sydney Swans side running out of both comps. Seems weird to have Sydney Swans reserves not playing in the Sydney comp.

 

[David Votoupal]

Swans play in the Canberra comp, so ideas of a curtain raiser are almost out the window.

Henson Park used to be a league ground, but was always an oval.

IIRC still used by Newtown in the NSWRL Premier League.

 

[Bomber Spirit]

Hey all

I was wondering if anyone knows how the local AFL in sydney is going.

I write a column on it every week on RedAndWhiteOnline .
We've just had the semi-finals last weekend, with North Shore qualifying for their 5th grand final in a row. They've only won 1 of the last 4 grand finals, and their nemesis for the last couple, Uni of NSW-Eastern Suburbs will be playing in the prelim final on Sunday against St George.

 

[Bomber Spirit]

*With the TD18 comp, start the AFLSYDNEY season in RD 2 of AFL season
*Have a Match of the Round that is a curtain raiser to a Swans home game.
*Play the Grand Final at Telstra Stadium as a Curtain Raiser to a Sydney Swans RD 22 Home game at Telstra Stadium.
*Use the Swans more to try boost local comp.

What do others think?

When the Swans' reserves were part of the Sydney AFL a few years ago, their games were played as curtain raisers for the Swans games. Unfortunately there were too many one-sided games, which wasn't great publicity for the local teams.
I'm not a great fan of the idea of playing the grand final as a curtain raiser to an AFL game. The local clubs have a rotation system where they receive gate takings (at $5 a head it's a lot cheaper than the AFL) and catering income from the finals, which they'd miss out on; and would only be a sideshow playing in front of a mainly disinterested crowd. They deserve better than that.
But the Swans and the AFL could certainly do more to promote the local comp. Even putting up results and fixtures on the scoreboard during Swans games, or including fixtures and results on club emails and newsletters wouldn't hurt the Swans at all but would be great for developing support for the game at a local level.

 

[littleduck]

I write a column on it every week on RedAndWhiteOnline .
We've just had the semi-finals last weekend, with North Shore qualifying for their 5th grand final in a row. They've only won 1 of the last 4 grand finals, and their nemesis for the last couple, Uni of NSW-Eastern Suburbs will be playing in the prelim final on Sunday against St George.

At least 1 (maybe 2) Prelim Finals should be a curtain raise to the Swans Eagles Olympic Stadium game. That would work well.!!