AFLW - GC SUNS licence approved for 2020 #GetSet

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Norm Smith Medallist
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Barty is 22, Phillips is 33.
And Ash has already switched sports twice in her career so I'm not sure why you're scoffing at the suggestion so much. In fact, I think you underestimate the pull our game has on some people. Lleyton Hewitt was 21 years old, number one tennis player in the world and making considerably more money than Ash is now but 15 or so years ago he was begging Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams to put him on their rookie list because he dreamt of playing footy at the highest level. Even Sam Groth gave up playing professional tennis in his mid 20s to play a season of local footy in Melbourne.

Not every decision is motivated by money, mate.
 
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And Ash has already switched sports twice in her career so I'm not sure why you're scoffing at the suggestion so much. In fact, I think you underestimate the pull our game has on some people. Lleyton Hewitt was 21 years old, number one tennis player in the world and making considerably more money than Ash is now but 15 or so years ago he was begging Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams to put him on their rookie list because he dreamt of playing footy at the highest level. Even Sam Groth gave up playing professional tennis in his mid 20s to play a season of local footy in Melbourne.

Not every decision is motivated by money, mate.
Maybe Hewitt should have walked away at that time because he didn't win anything after that. Lleyton peaked in tennis by his 21st birthday and the main reason he didn't leave the sport was because of the money and fame. Barty may well switch sports again, I just don't think it will be soon given she is entering a window where she can make megabucks and win some slams.
 

GC2015

Norm Smith Medallist
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Maybe Hewitt should have walked away at that time because he didn't win anything after that. Lleyton peaked in tennis by his 21st birthday and the main reason he didn't leave the sport was because of the money and fame. Barty may well switch sports again, I just don't think it will be soon given she is entering a window where she can make megabucks and win some slams.
If you consider a top 5 world ranking, making the final of the Australian AND US Opens, winning the Davis Cup and capturing 10+ professional titles all over the world as 'not winning anything' then you are an extremely hard marker. Don't forget Lleyton happened to play in the prime years of the GOAT Roger Federer and undoubtedly would have won a lot more (grand slams included) if Federer had played in a different era. Quite a few guys in those prime Federer years would have won more slams without Federer. Guys like Roddick, Safin, Nalbandian and even the great Andre Agassi had a resurgence around then.

Tennis is an absolute grind of a sport and lots of players burn out from the demands. That's why Sam Groth gave it away for a year to play local footy for a season before returning and playing the best tennis of his career. Even if we could convince Ash to play one season with us, she'd really only have to give 3-4 months to play and she could go back to tennis for the rest of the year.
 

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If you consider a top 5 world ranking, making the final of the Australian AND US Opens, winning the Davis Cup and capturing 10+ professional titles all over the world as 'not winning anything' then you are an extremely hard marker. Don't forget Lleyton happened to play in the prime years of the GOAT Roger Federer and undoubtedly would have won a lot more (grand slams included) if Federer had played in a different era. Quite a few guys in those prime Federer years would have won more slams without Federer. Guys like Roddick, Safin, Nalbandian and even the great Andre Agassi had a resurgence around then.

Tennis is an absolute grind of a sport and lots of players burn out from the demands. That's why Sam Groth gave it away for a year to play local footy for a season before returning and playing the best tennis of his career. Even if we could convince Ash to play one season with us, she'd really only have to give 3-4 months to play and she could go back to tennis for the rest of the season.
You are very conveniently omitting Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic who had to come up in the middle of Federer's best years. The fact is that Lleyton was a battler who was lucky to win the slams he won. His style ground his opponents down but it also ground him down and by 21 his best tennis was behind him and he relied on spirit, fitness, stamina, tactics and grit to win anything after that.

Ash Barty and Sally Pearson are chalk and cheese. Ash will want to keep her multi million dollar body fit to play thousands of hours of tennis, whereas 2 years from now Sally can afford to suffer the kinds of injuries typical to a football field. Both would be good role models, but I'm not holding my breath on either actually doing it.
 
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the aflw season is right around the time of the australian open, isn't it? has she even played footy before? i'd rather give the opportunity to a young girl who loves and wants to play footy, not someone famous because they're athletic. we've tried the non-typical footy player angle before (karmichael hunt, josh hall) and it wasn't great.
 

GC2015

Norm Smith Medallist
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You are very conveniently omitting Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic who had to come up in the middle of Federer's best years. The fact is that Lleyton was a battler who was lucky to win the slams he won. His style ground his opponents down but it also ground him down and by 21 his best tennis was behind him and he relied on spirit, fitness, stamina, tactics and grit to win anything after that.

Ash Barty and Sally Pearson are chalk and cheese. Ash will want to keep her multi million dollar body fit to play thousands of hours of tennis, whereas 2 years from now Sally can afford to suffer the kinds of injuries typical to a football field. Both would be good role models, but I'm not holding my breath on either actually doing it.
Nadal and Djokovic began to regularly beat Federer at the majors in the late 2000s but Federer had a period there from about 2004-08 where he won almost everything except the French Open. That is the period where players like Roddick, Hewitt, Agassi etc could have won more slams if Federer wasn't playing (Fed won 12 slams over that period of time). Also, you're seriously underplaying what Lleyton Hewitt achieved in the sport of tennis. He almost single handedly killed the extremely successful serve-volley game style and turned it into the baseline/groundstroke game we see today. You could easily argue the 2001 US Open final between Lleyton Hewitt and Pete Sampras was the turning point as Lleyton won his first slam and completely dominated Sampras in the process, who was considered the GOAT at the time. He then went on to become the youngest world number one ever later that year and achieved all of that at the tender age of 20.

I certainly think we're a greater chance to get Sally (she said earlier this year that she would consider it after the Tokyo Olympics) but I'm definitely asking both the question if I'm a recruiter at the Suns.
the aflw season is right around the time of the australian open, isn't it? has she even played footy before? i'd rather give the opportunity to a young girl who loves and wants to play footy, not someone famous because they're athletic. we've tried the non-typical footy player angle before (karmichael hunt, josh hall) and it wasn't great.
You're thinking too much about the male side of things IMO. Erin Phillips converted to the game two years ago and virtually won everything there was to win in her first season. Monique Conti converted to the game this year and was best on in the Bulldogs grand final winning team. I'm of the opinion that because the AFLW is still in its infancy, most girls playing haven't spent the majority of their lives playing football and therefore are not clearly better (both athletically and skill wise) than elite athletes from other sports. If an elite female athlete has the discipline to apply herself to the game like Erin Philips did, I think the league currently allows for her to thrive. However, it will change in 5-10 years when we have girls coming through who have been playing the game since they were very young and were not forced to stop playing at some point.

Therefore, we should absolutely be looking at recruiting elite athletes from other sports (at least at the start). In particular, I think we should be looking at ironwomen who live on the Gold Coast because their aerobic capacity is as elite as any sport in the world and we know modern football favours elite runners/endurance athletes. We have a lot of world class ironwomen based on the Gold Coast so it could be a nice resource for us.
 
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Nadal and Djokovic began to regularly beat Federer at the majors in the late 2000s but Federer had a period there from about 2004-08 where he won almost everything except the French Open. That is the period where players like Roddick, Hewitt, Agassi etc could have won more slams if Federer wasn't playing (Fed won 12 slams over that period of time). Also, you're seriously underplaying what Lleyton Hewitt achieved in the sport of tennis. He almost single handedly killed the extremely successful serve-volley game style and turned it into the baseline/groundstroke game we see today. You could easily argue the 2001 US Open final between Lleyton Hewitt and Pete Sampras was the turning point as Lleyton won his first slam and completely dominated Sampras in the process, who was considered the GOAT at the time. He then went on to become the youngest world number one ever later that year and achieved all of that at the tender age of 20.

I certainly think we're a greater chance to get Sally (she said earlier this year that she would consider it after the Tokyo Olympics) but I'm definitely asking both the question if I'm a recruiter at the Suns.

You're thinking too much about the male side of things IMO. Erin Phillips converted to the game two years ago and virtually won everything there was to win in her first season. Monique Conti converted to the game this year and was best on in the Bulldogs grand final winning team. I'm of the opinion that because the AFLW is still in its infancy, most girls playing haven't spent the majority of their lives playing football and therefore are not clearly better (both athletically and skill wise) than elite athletes from other sports. If an elite female athlete has the discipline to apply herself to the game like Erin Philips did, I think the league currently allows for her to thrive. However, it will change in 5-10 years when we have girls coming through who have been playing the game since they were very young and were not forced to stop playing at some point.

Therefore, we should absolutely be looking at recruiting elite athletes from other sports (at least at the start). In particular, I think we should be looking at ironwomen who live on the Gold Coast because their aerobic capacity is as elite as any sport in the world and we know modern football favours elite runners/endurance athletes. We have a lot of world class ironwomen based on the Gold Coast so it could be a nice resource for us.
hard to compare Phillips to Barty when Phillips was towards the end of her career (as a sportsperson being over 30) when she switched to footy. barty is in her early 20s and years away from hitting her prime. financially, a long career in tennis is going to net her a substantially larger bank balance compared to a month playing aflw per year. i'm sure her manager would tell her that as well. happy to be proven wrong if she does play for us, but i just can't see it happening.
 

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Norm Smith Medallist
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hard to compare Phillips to Barty when Phillips was towards the end of her career (as a sportsperson being over 30) when she switched to footy. barty is in her early 20s and years away from hitting her prime. financially, a long career in tennis is going to net her a substantially larger bank balance compared to a month playing aflw per year. i'm sure her manager would tell her that as well. happy to be proven wrong if she does play for us, but i just can't see it happening.
Let me make this clear so we don't go round in circles here. I don't think she'll stop playing tennis, I just think it's worth asking the question because she has a love for the game. If she has a desire to scratch that itch and even just take off a few months to play a single season of AFLW then I think we are in a fantastic position to offer her that opportunity. Ash is also indigenous and may appreciate how much work we put into indigenous affairs. So there are multiple reasons as to why she may consider an offer from us.

I'd really like Gretel Tippett to play for us because I think she would be extremely difficult to stop as a key forward in the AFLW. There aren't too many players in the AFLW that stand 191cm like Gretel.
 

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Nadal and Djokovic began to regularly beat Federer at the majors in the late 2000s but Federer had a period there from about 2004-08 where he won almost everything except the French Open. That is the period where players like Roddick, Hewitt, Agassi etc could have won more slams if Federer wasn't playing (Fed won 12 slams over that period of time). Also, you're seriously underplaying what Lleyton Hewitt achieved in the sport of tennis. He almost single handedly killed the extremely successful serve-volley game style and turned it into the baseline/groundstroke game we see today. You could easily argue the 2001 US Open final between Lleyton Hewitt and Pete Sampras was the turning point as Lleyton won his first slam and completely dominated Sampras in the process, who was considered the GOAT at the time. He then went on to become the youngest world number one ever later that year and achieved all of that at the tender age of 20.
You are just validating what I said, but still omitting convenient facts that don't suit your argument. Federer and Hewitt came up at the same time with Lleyton getting the better of Roger from juniors and into their early professional careers. However, that was the very best Hewitt had and Federer showed he had a couple more gears, absolutely dominating from that point onward. Even Federer wasn't perfect though, given how successful Nadal has been in their head to head, so your claim that Roger was so dominant from 2004 to 2008 doesn't hold up because Nadal won more matches 12-6 and head to head Slam finals in that period Nadal winning the French 05, 06, 07, 08 and Wimbledon 08 facing Federer in the Final, while Federer defeated Nadal in the Wimbledon Finals of 06 and 07. Novak has won more Australian Opens than Roger too.

Hewitt was not in their class and my statement that he should have played AFL when he'd had his chance holds up because a whole generation of players better than Hewitt came along when he was at the peak of his powers. Good on him for competing against them for a further 15 years and making crazy money, but let's not be deluded about his talents.
 

GC2015

Norm Smith Medallist
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You are just validating what I said, but still omitting convenient facts that don't suit your argument.
I'm absolutely not validating what you said. You said I was conveniently leaving Nadal and Djokovic out of the equation when in reality Federer won more than half his current slam titles over the five year period between 2004-2008 before Nadal or Djokovic began dominating. 2004-08 were Hewitt, Roddick and Federer's prime window years. Nadal also won half his slams through the five year period between 2009-2013 and the same goes for Djokovic over the 2010-2015 five year period but neither were as dominant as Roger who claimed 12 slams over those 5 years. However, you can see it's consistent when it comes to prime five year windows. Hewitt is about 5 and a half years older than Nadal and 6 and a half years older than Djokovic so to suggest they are a major factor behind Hewitt not winning more slams is simply not true because the nature of their ages meant their prime windows did not match up. Hewitt and Roddick were victims of their playing era and would have likely won more slams if they were born in a different time period to the GOAT and/or the second and third best players of all time.

Federer and Hewitt came up at the same time with Lleyton getting the better of Roger from juniors and into their early professional careers. However, that was the very best Hewitt had and Federer showed he had a couple more gears, absolutely dominating from that point onward.
You do realise it's possible to improve at a slower rate than somebody else, right? Just because Hewitt was losing to the GOAT in his prime years between 2004-08, doesn't necessarily mean he wasn't improving. Was tennis played at a higher standard over the 2004-08 period than it was over the 1999-2003 period? I think it was. Federer raised the bar to an unbelievably high standard that no one was really able to keep up with (except for Nadal on clay) and I think it would be very difficult to argue against that. Also, Hewitt was eliminated from Grand Slams by Federer 6 times (2 finals, 2 semis, 1 quarter & 1 round of 16) over the 2004-08 period so that definitely demonstrates Federer's dominance was a big factor behind Hewitt not achieving more.

Even Federer wasn't perfect though, given how successful Nadal has been in their head to head, so your claim that Roger was so dominant from 2004 to 2008 doesn't hold up because Nadal won more matches 12-6 and head to head Slam finals in that period Nadal winning the French 05, 06, 07, 08 and Wimbledon 08 facing Federer in the Final, while Federer defeated Nadal in the Wimbledon Finals of 06 and 07. Novak has won more Australian Opens than Roger too.
Slam winners over the 2004-2008 period: Federer - 12, Nadal - 5, Djokovic - 1, Gaudio - 1, Safin - 1. If that's not dominant, I don't know what is. Greatness in tennis is judged on Grand Slam performances. Sure, Nadal beat Federer a few times at the French Open over that period but the overall body of work over the four slams is heavily in Roger's favour over that five year period. Federer made 16 Grand Slam finals over the 2004-2008 period while Nadal made 5 slam finals, 4 of which were at the same tournament.

Also, Federer and Djokovic have both won six Australian Opens.
Hewitt was not in their class and my statement that he should have played AFL when he'd had his chance holds up because a whole generation of players better than Hewitt came along when he was at the peak of his powers. Good on him for competing against them for a further 15 years and making crazy money, but let's not be deluded about his talents.
Retrospectively, Hewitt clearly was not in their class but we're literally talking about the three greatest male tennis players to ever pick up a racquet. Should Karl Malone have quit basketball because he happened to be playing in the same era as Michael Jordan? The answer is no.
 

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I'm absolutely not validating what you said. You said I was conveniently leaving Nadal and Djokovic out of the equation when in reality Federer won more than half his current slam titles over the five year period between 2004-2008 before Nadal or Djokovic began dominating. 2004-08 were Hewitt, Roddick and Federer's prime window years. Nadal also won half his slams through the five year period between 2009-2013 and the same goes for Djokovic over the 2010-2015 five year period but neither were as dominant as Roger who claimed 12 slams over those 5 years. However, you can see it's consistent when it comes to prime five year windows. Hewitt is about 5 and a half years older than Nadal and 6 and a half years older than Djokovic so to suggest they are a major factor behind Hewitt not winning more slams is simply not true because the nature of their ages meant their prime windows did not match up. Hewitt and Roddick were victims of their playing era and would have likely won more slams if they were born in a different time period to the GOAT and/or the second and third best players of all time.


You do realise it's possible to improve at a slower rate than somebody else, right? Just because Hewitt was losing to the GOAT in his prime years between 2004-08, doesn't necessarily mean he wasn't improving. Was tennis played at a higher standard over the 2004-08 period than it was over the 1999-2003 period? I think it was. Federer raised the bar to an unbelievably high standard that no one was really able to keep up with (except for Nadal on clay) and I think it would be very difficult to argue against that. Also, Hewitt was eliminated from Grand Slams by Federer 6 times (2 finals, 2 semis, 1 quarter & 1 round of 16) over the 2004-08 period so that definitely demonstrates Federer's dominance was a big factor behind Hewitt not achieving more.


Slam winners over the 2004-2008 period: Federer - 12, Nadal - 5, Djokovic - 1, Gaudio - 1, Safin - 1. If that's not dominant, I don't know what is. Greatness in tennis is judged on Grand Slam performances. Sure, Nadal beat Federer a few times at the French Open over that period but the overall body of work over the four slams is heavily in Roger's favour over that five year period. Federer made 16 Grand Slam finals over the 2004-2008 period while Nadal made 5 slam finals, 4 of which were at the same tournament.

Also, Federer and Djokovic have both won six Australian Opens.

Retrospectively, Hewitt clearly was not in their class but we're literally talking about the three greatest male tennis players to ever pick up a racquet. Should Karl Malone have quit basketball because he happened to be playing in the same era as Michael Jordan? The answer is no.
Ho hum. You keep contradicting yourself, but this is tiresome. La La La. When did Federer's "prime window" close exactly? Didn't Hewitt's close when he was 21? 3 best players ever? WTF are you talking about? In your lifetime maybe. Federer is not the GOAT as Nadal and Djokovic are likely to eclipse his 20 Slams. Google Bjorn Borg some time and learn why he was the GOAT.
 

Grandsun

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So the AFLW has opted for Conference Systems. What is everyones opinions? Personally, I hate it. I think it is a pathetic lazy move by the AFL. Why not run it alongside the AFL?
 
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On game day at Carrara she is some kind of official for the AFL. Not sure specifically what her role is but she wears an AFL uniform between the two interchange benches.
Good call Bods!

I knew I had seen her before , Always wondered what that women's role was but assumed it was something AFL related.
 

The Victorian

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Adelaide, Brisbane, and GWS (Collingwood and Melbourne did) all wear altered Guernsey designs to what the men wear. I am almost finished designing and AFLW guernsey portfolio for the FJGD Board and thought I would share the Gold Coast Suns design I made as there is no Guernsey announced as yet for 2020. What are you guys thoughts of the design?
1548043402745.png
 

The Victorian

Norm Smith Medallist
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I was actually viewing this thread and it is pretty interesting.

I would say that the Suns women's team will be very strong when they come in as the talent in Queensland for women's football is super strong. We could possibly see a Q-Clash Grand Final!

I would say with the 4 additional teams coming in 2020, a full season is a must with each team playing each other team once although I would like it that you play everyone once then your biggest rival in a return match.

I have been following the Suns Women's program for some time as it has been pretty strong with the Suns underage girls winning carnivals all the time. There is a lot of sponsor interest in AFLW for the Suns. Kool Kids and Mackay Waterfront have already signed on as sponsors as well as Hostplus and Bond University showing significant interest in any involvement in AFLW.

Home venue will be an interesting one as we see with the WBBL even though it would be a dream to play in a big venue it doesn't look good on TV if it has hardly anyone there so the Suns girls may play a few games at Metricon but I think the majority of games will be moved elsewhere. Cazaly's Stadium, Harrup Park, and Riverway Stadium in North Queensland all should expect some AFLW games in the near future as North Queensland was a big driving factor around the Suns AFLW bid. On the Gold Coast, Bond University has been touted as being a host of a few games for the Suns, Southport's Fankhauser Reserve and Broadbeach's Merrimac Oval may also be in the mix to host games too.

It is looking to be quite exciting for the Suns and hopefully they get better respect from the Footy public in the near future!
 

briztoon

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briztoon

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I was actually viewing this thread and it is pretty interesting.

I would say that the Suns women's team will be very strong when they come in as the talent in Queensland for women's football is super strong. We could possibly see a Q-Clash Grand Final!

I would say with the 4 additional teams coming in 2020, a full season is a must with each team playing each other team once although I would like it that you play everyone once then your biggest rival in a return match.

I have been following the Suns Women's program for some time as it has been pretty strong with the Suns underage girls winning carnivals all the time. There is a lot of sponsor interest in AFLW for the Suns. Kool Kids and Mackay Waterfront have already signed on as sponsors as well as Hostplus and Bond University showing significant interest in any involvement in AFLW.

Home venue will be an interesting one as we see with the WBBL even though it would be a dream to play in a big venue it doesn't look good on TV if it has hardly anyone there so the Suns girls may play a few games at Metricon but I think the majority of games will be moved elsewhere. Cazaly's Stadium, Harrup Park, and Riverway Stadium in North Queensland all should expect some AFLW games in the near future as North Queensland was a big driving factor around the Suns AFLW bid. On the Gold Coast, Bond University has been touted as being a host of a few games for the Suns, Southport's Fankhauser Reserve and Broadbeach's Merrimac Oval may also be in the mix to host games too.

It is looking to be quite exciting for the Suns and hopefully they get better respect from the Footy public in the near future!
I'm of the opposite view. I believe when the Suns come in, both QLD teams will be seriously lacking any depth.

Brisbane, while making two grand finals, does not have great depth, and that's when we've got the whole State's talent, plus a number of Tassie, WA and Vic players playing for us.

It's going to take quite a few years with both academies pumping out talent, for either team to get a sniff of a grand final. The top end talent is their, albeit thin, but then there appears to be a significant drop off talent wise after that.
 
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