Expansion Canberra

[glengowan]

Should the top Canberra clubs play in the top grade Sydney competition and either a combined, or representative Canberra club join the VFL - with the aim being that club elevates to the AFL as the 20th team?

 

[Canberra Pear]

Should the top Canberra clubs play in the top grade Sydney competition and either a combined

There's discussions of Canberra's best clubs joining Sydney's best clubs for a combined elevated. I assume Belco, Queanbeyan, Ainslie and Eastlake against a handful of AFL Sydney's best.

, or representative Canberra club join the VFL - with the aim being that club elevates to the AFL as the 20th team?

I would love to see this. Would be good to build a following in the lead up.

 

[MelbourneGWS]

There's discussions of Canberra's best clubs joining Sydney's best clubs for a combined elevated. I assume Belco, Queanbeyan, Ainslie and Eastlake against a handful of AFL Sydney's best.



I would love to see this. Would be good to build a following in the lead up.

When the AFL formed the North East Australian Football League (NEAFL) in 2011, 5 ACT teams joined the competition (along with the reserves teams of the Giants, Sydney, Brisbane and Gold Coast as well as teams from AFL Sydney, Queensland AFL and the NT Thunder).

Unfortunately costs saw Belco, Tuggeranong and Queanbeyan withdraw from the NEAFL. The AFL wanted a combined Canberra team in the NEAFL, and I understand that Ainslie withdrew from the NEAFL when rather than combine with Eastlake, its request to be the standalone Canberra team was not accepted by the AFL. Eastlake badged itself as the Canberra Demons and continued to be the ACT club from 2016 in the NEAFL.

However the AFL shut down the NEAFL at the end of 2020, after the 2020 season was abandoned due to Covid, and absorbed it to the VFL. Of the NEAFL clubs only Southport joined the VFL, along with the Reserves teams of the Giants, Swans, Brisbane and Gold Coast.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

When the AFL formed the North East Australian Football League (NEAFL) in 2011, 5 ACT teams joined the competition (along with the reserves teams of the Giants, Sydney, Brisbane and Gold Coast as well as teams from AFL Sydney, Queensland AFL and the NT Thunder).

Unfortunately costs saw Belco, Tuggeranong and Queanbeyan withdraw from the NEAFL. The AFL wanted a combined Canberra team in the NEAFL, and I understand that Ainslie withdrew from the NEAFL when rather than combine with Eastlake, its request to be the standalone Canberra team was not accepted by the AFL. Eastlake badged itself as the Canberra Demons and continued to be the ACT club from 2016 in the NEAFL.

However the AFL shut down the NEAFL at the end of 2020, after the 2020 season was abandoned due to Covid, and absorbed it to the VFL. Of the NEAFL clubs only Southport joined the VFL, along with the Reserves teams of the Giants, Swans, Brisbane and Gold Coast.

There's little incentive for Canberra clubs who have junior programs and proud histories to lose their players to some combined Canberra team, especially when it's not a huge increase in quality of football (ie they can make a sacrifice for the greater good if the players are genuinely playing in a much higher quality league), from within the Canberra league itself, which is a decent enough standard anyway.

 

[HavUEvaSeenTheRain]

I honestly don't see how an NT team would be financially viable outside the government stepping in to fund it. I can't see what possible political justification there could be for that kind of investment into a professional football team either.

I’d give it less then a 1% chance but the only hope the NT would have is if the government tries to create a “big” Australia and possibly centre our military around the area. We might then see all types of spending up there by governments

 

[Canberra Pear]

Manuka crowd was 8,021 for a preseason match.

Second largest of the AAMI Series. Only behind Geelong.

Canberra keeps showing its credentials to support a full-time team.

 

[Canberra Pear]

Was discussing Canberra's chances for the 20th team on reddit and had this interaction (and asked permission to share it).

Thought it was worth sharing.

The main sentiment I hear against a Canberra team is that we're "Giants territory".

This example shows how keeping Canberra for the Giants could backfire for the AFL.

Canberran AFL fans are happy to support the Giants in the meantime, but there will be a lot of disgruntled Canberrans if the Giants are the reason we're dismissed for the 20th team.

 

[Bjo187]

Whilst the good news came out last night that they're using a recruitment firm to find the new AFL chairman (finally Goyder stepping aside), some news that might not be a great sign for Canberra also surfaced.

Helen milroy is stepping down, her replacement is Bowden who is indigenous and her family is N.T football royalty and behind the push for an N.T team.

Yothu Yindi Foundation boss Denise Bowden to join AFL Commission

The AFL will maintain Indigenous representation at top governance level with the nomination of Denise Bowden for appointment as commissioner to replace Helen Milroy.Ms Bowden, the chief executive of Y...

nit.com.au

 

[MelbourneGWS]

View attachment 2240642

Was discussing Canberra's chances for the 20th team on reddit and had this interaction (and asked permission to share it).

Thought it was worth sharing.

The main sentiment I hear against a Canberra team is that we're "Giants territory".

This example shows how keeping Canberra for the Giants could backfire for the AFL.

Canberran AFL fans are happy to support the Giants in the meantime, but there will be a lot of disgruntled Canberrans if the Giants are the reason we're dismissed for the 20th team.

You are entitled to your opinion but the Giants are Canberra’s AFL team.

They will have at least a 21 year relationship with Canberra (by 2032) and they rightly regard Canberra as Giants Territory. The people of Canberra have shown their support to this arrangement as seen by the sold out Manuka crowds, and the ACT Government is also happy with this arrangement as seen by the ongoing 21 year funding commitment.

 

[Freomaniac]

Why the rush, though? Can’t we have more than 20 teams?

Trust me, NT will be seen by many as the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle if they do get up as team 20.

It would be great for them but a shame for Canberra as they’re probably never going to get a team if the NT gets in.

They will continue to be ignored and no one will be keen to expand past 20, especially for the ACT.

It really feels like now or never for them.

There is like 150,000 people live in Darwin

 

[Canberra Pear]

You are entitled to your opinion

I literally posted somebody's else's opinion.

but the Giants are Canberra’s AFL team.

Did you read the post? I feel like you cut and paste that from a previous post.

I said I'm happy to support the Giants in the meantime. I will continue to buy memberships, go to games, and even get a bit of merch here and there.

But if the Giants are the reason we miss out, it will sour the goodwill in Canberra and it will become harder to claim to be "Canberra's AFL team".

 

[Canberra Pear]

Whilst the good news came out last night that they're using a recruitment firm to find the new AFL chairman (finally Goyder stepping aside), some news that might not be a great sign for Canberra also surfaced.

Helen milroy is stepping down, her replacement is Bowden who is indigenous and her family is N.T football royalty and behind the push for an N.T team.

Yothu Yindi Foundation boss Denise Bowden to join AFL Commission

The AFL will maintain Indigenous representation at top governance level with the nomination of Denise Bowden for appointment as commissioner to replace Helen Milroy.Ms Bowden, the chief executive of Y...

nit.com.au

An interesting development.

I think the NT hinges entirely on funding. Either they can secure ridiculous amounts of funding, or they can't.

Different leadership might mean a harder push, but I don't think it shifts the dial that much.

 

[Bjo187]

An interesting development.

I think the NT hinges entirely on funding. Either they can secure ridiculous amounts of funding, or they can't.

Different leadership might mean a harder push, but I don't think it shifts the dial that much.

The problem with the n.t is too, nobody in the media will say it's a bad idea, coz they don't wanna appear to be discriminatory or not empathetic to the plight of the indigenous communities living in the n.t.

I picked this up on Eddie's podcast today when he answered a question at the 23 min mark, relating to Canberra and the topic of relocations. I thought back to his goodes indiscretion and thought to myself, he will never publically say n.t is a terrible idea, even if he thinks it privately. He always steps around it with great caution.

 

[Coolangatta]

On the topic of funding, I still don’t get how that would secure an NT side?

Why would 600 million be enough? The stadium would cost more than that.

You’d need to prop them up for at least 50 years. That’s $1.25 billion and before adjusting for inflation.

So around 2 billion in total minimum would need to be the funding they’d have to secure, no?

 

[MelbourneGWS]

The crowd numbers this ANZAC weekend will be interesting - Giants are playing today as are the Rugby Union Brumbies, and tomorrow the NRL Raiders will be playing. The article states that the Rugby codes have a 2 for 1 team ticket deal.

In a bid to secure their foothold in the ACT, the Brumbies and the Raiders have joined forces with a two-for-one ticket deal.

The Brumbies would hope for a crowd of over 10,000, while the AFL is expected to attract over 12,000, given the popularity of the Western Bulldogs.

The Raiders and the Brumbies join forces at GIO and put GWS to the test at Manuka | Region Canberra

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, during and after the Super League war, the Brumbies were the talk of…

region.com.au

 

[Canberra Pear]

The crowd numbers this ANZAC weekend will be interesting - Giants are playing today as are the Rugby Union Brumbies, and tomorrow the NRL Raiders will be playing. The article states that the Rugby codes have a 2 for 1 team ticket deal.

In a bid to secure their foothold in the ACT, the Brumbies and the Raiders have joined forces with a two-for-one ticket deal.

The Brumbies would hope for a crowd of over 10,000, while the AFL is expected to attract over 12,000, given the popularity of the Western Bulldogs.

The Raiders and the Brumbies join forces at GIO and put GWS to the test at Manuka | Region Canberra

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, during and after the Super League war, the Brumbies were the talk of…

region.com.au

I'm disappointed with the AFL's scheduling here. It's a long weekend. There are so many options for scheduling. And they put us head-to-head against the Brumbies.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

I'm disappointed with the AFL's scheduling here. It's a long weekend. There are so many options for scheduling. And they put us head-to-head against the Brumbies.

The AFL fixture is not going to change each and every single game in a fixture that's already difficult enough to construct with all its restrictions just because there is one clash with one sport in one city. There's other considerations e.g. they always have to play the Canberra home games in the window that they can't in Sydney because of the Show. If they tred tried to please everyone always, everywhere it would become impossible to create the fixture.

 

[Canberra Pear]

The AFL fixture is not going to change each and every single game in a fixture that's already difficult enough to construct with all its restrictions just because there is one clash with one sport in one city. There's other considerations e.g. they always have to play the Canberra home games in the window that they can't in Sydney because of the Show. If they tred tried to please everyone always, everywhere it would become impossible to create the fixture.

I'm sure there are other factors, but it just makes Canberra feel like an afterthought.

Same as giving us a night game in June.

 

[Coolangatta]

I'm sure there are other factors, but it just makes Canberra feel like an afterthought.

Same as giving us a night game in June.

That’s my concern about Canberra’s hopes for a 20th team. I think the AFL does treat them like an afterthought. The best hope of Canberra getting the 20th licence would be convincing the AFL that the Giants are better off without Canberra than with them because they care way more about growth of the game in Sydney than the cap.

 

[MelbourneGWS]

Seems Brumbies got a crowd of 8,118, whilst the Giants game against the Bulldogs got 12,234.

 

[Freomaniac]

That’s my concern about Canberra’s hopes for a 20th team. I think the AFL does treat them like an afterthought. The best hope of Canberra getting the 20th licence would be convincing the AFL that the Giants are better off without Canberra than with them because they care way more about growth of the game in Sydney than the cap.

Sounds about right

 

[Canberra Pear]

Seems Brumbies got a crowd of 8,118, whilst the Giants game against the Bulldogs got 12,234.

A 50 percent bigger crowd going head to head. Impressive.

Say what you will about novelty from only three games a year, but it still reinforces that there's a strong AFL following. Definitely not just a "rugby town".

 

[Cmarsh]

I would think that if the AFL did decide to commit to a 20th team in Canberra, assuming some time in the 2030's, then they would push, even demand, a significant upgrade to Manuka, just like they have with the incoming Tasmanian side.

 

[Canberra Pear]

I would think that if the AFL did decide to commit to a 20th team in Canberra, assuming some time in the 2030's, then they would push, even demand, a significant upgrade to Manuka, just like they have with the incoming Tasmanian side.

They're already early plans to upgrade Manuka to 20k.

A part of Labor's election promise was for a BBL team, and that was tied to a Manuka upgrade.

 

[Cmarsh]

They're already early plans to upgrade Manuka to 20k.

A part of Labor's election promise was for a BBL team, and that was tied to a Manuka upgrade.

Labor ACT or Labor Federal? Or both?