Could Geelong be Vics No 1 Team?

MotleyOne

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What's the population of Geelong, and what sort of Crowds would you get to a home game if Skilled Stadium was bigger?

I was looking at your list and considering that it is so young and talented there will be many more good times to come in the next few years. With this in mind, do you think the Cats could become the number 1 team in Victoria in terms of membership, sponsorship, crowd pulling capacity etc. Will anyone ever take that mantle off of Collingwood ???

Here Adelaide we have a 35-65 split against Port.....with the majority of the sheep following the Crows. So the task is difficult to become number 1 in SA, although Fremantle seem to have done well off the field in WA in those areas and could one day knock off the eagles if they get their sh#t together on the field.

Does Geelong have the potential to become number 1 in Victoria ? Or is Collingwood just too big ?
 

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rampantswan

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#2
What's the population of Geelong, and what sort of Crowds would you get to a home game if Skilled Stadium was bigger?

I was looking at your list and considering that it is so young and talented there will be many more good times to come in the next few years. With this in mind, do you think the Cats could become the number 1 team in Victoria in terms of membership, sponsorship, crowd pulling capacity etc. Will anyone ever take that mantle off of Collingwood ???

Here Adelaide we have a 35-65 split against Port.....with the majority of the sheep following the Crows. So the task is difficult to become number 1 in SA, although Fremantle seem to have done well off the field in WA in those areas and could one day knock off the eagles if they get their sh#t together on the field.

Does Geelong have the potential to become number 1 in Victoria ? Or is Collingwood just too big ?
Geelong will never be the no.1 supported team in Victoria. Collingwood supporters can't afford a tv.
 

CF

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#5
what has held us back is the siaze of Skilled Stadium. This will eventually be upgraded to hold 36,000 according to the talk in the press. This may see our memberships stay 32,000+ but like any club membership comes down to how successful the club is onfield generally. The good thing about winning a flag is that the club gets lots of national media exposure and people may start to barrack for us who haven't previously.

But I am not optimistic enough to think we could eclipse the Pies or Essendon. Yet I like your thinking and if the club can continue to be successful for the next few years our supporter base will grow IMO.
 

ridethewind

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#6
Football is a curious game, had Fraser been fit there was every chance it would have been Collingwood playing against Port in the GF, an injustice based on your season no doubt, but barely a breath away in the end

However, hypotheticals aside, there is one thing that you have been able to take to the bank for over a 100 years.. Collingwood is the biggest club in Australia
 

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#7
No. We could easily say that we're in the top 4 or 5, but we'll never be able to rival the powerhouses of Essendon and Collingwood. Being the big game in a regional city is probably holding us back in that regard - If we continue to play home games there then we will be naturally constrained by the capacity of our home ground. It's great for the club to keep playing there - but we have to be realistic and admit that we're probably not going to be able to rival Collingwood, at the very least, and probably Essendon either.
 

CF

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#8
Football is a curious game, had Fraser been fit there was every chance it would have been Collingwood playing against Port in the GF, an injustice based on your season no doubt, but barely a breath away in the end

However, hypotheticals aside, there is one thing that you have been able to take to the bank for over a 100 years.. Collingwood is the biggest club in Australia
Yeah and had Nick Davis not kicked that goal with 3 secs on the clock in the 05 semi final we might have gone all the way that year. Really, it is pointless getting yourself worked up over what might have been. The truth is Collingwood were terrific in the PF but there is no way we were going to let you win. Plain and simple.


I think Geelong can challenge the big V clubs in the future. We do have after all Skilled Stadium which is something that no other Vic clubs have. This is nothing to sneeze at when it comes to growing our brand. We have great administrators who have a vision for the club and combined with some on field football success Geelong could really grow over the next 5 years (membership wise).

I think the big V clubs all want us to think we can't become as big as them. They want to maintain their advantage which is natural. But I feel it could be done. We may never have the supporter base of the Pies but if we can equal them or get close in membership numbers that is what really counts.
 

Turbocat

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#9
Geelongs population of 200,000 ish , is by no means all Cats supporters. Some do not follow footy and out of those who do I'd say it would be 50/50 with the other half going for all different teams including Port.
This is balanced by at least half of our membership comes from outside of Geelong including rurul Vic and Melbourne.
Sp Its highly doubtful Geelong could ever get to be Vic's #1 team , to become that it would need continued success over multiple generations.

The point I suppose is that we don't have to be the #1 , with our own stadium with 25,000 + pre-sold seats basically means we are financially a secure club
 
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#10
The Brissy lions won three in a row but they are well and truly back to the field now especially with crowd numbers. Same will happen to geelong, people will hop oin and then the passionate fans will stay when the team isnt doin as well
 

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#11
It could happen, maybe 20 or 30 years down the track. But its unlikely.

The MCG holds 100,000 and the pies have 40,000 members,

Skilled holds 30,000 and we have 32,000 members. They are HUGE numbers to make up.
 

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MotleyOne

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It could happen, maybe 20 or 30 years down the track. But its unlikely.

The MCG holds 100,000 and the pies have 40,000 members,

Skilled holds 30,000 and we have 32,000 members. They are HUGE numbers to make up.
So its only 8000 members difference. thats defiently Do-able i think. I bet there is a surge in membership this year.... maybe 4000 people jump onboard.... including new people and past people who havent renewed. Its usually the way it works after a premiership.

Geelong were actually the team i followed in the old VFL days.... so they are like my second team (although i dont really have a true second team now that Port are in). But you'll have to excuse me for hating you for the next few months though. Im sure you understand.... :)

Id really like to see someone overthere knock Collingwood off their mantle... they have all the money, resources, supporter base, media coverage. I think they need a reality check to remind them that they are massive underachievers.
 

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#13
Football is a curious game, had Fraser been fit there was every chance it would have been Collingwood playing against Port in the GF, an injustice based on your season no doubt, but barely a breath away in the end

However, hypotheticals aside, there is one thing that you have been able to take to the bank for over a 100 years.. Collingwood is the biggest club in Australia
Geelong were never going to give up that game mate. We could also say, If only Geelong kicked straight in the third quarter. We kicked something like 3.9 that quarter and could have stormed home at that stage. Where your side pretty much kicked a goal on every shot.
 

Bryceson

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#14
So its only 8000 members difference. thats defiently Do-able i think. I bet there is a surge in membership this year.... maybe 4000 people jump onboard.... including new people and past people who havent renewed. Its usually the way it works after a premiership.

Geelong were actually the team i followed in the old VFL days.... so they are like my second team (although i dont really have a true second team now that Port are in). But you'll have to excuse me for hating you for the next few months though. Im sure you understand.... :)

Id really like to see someone overthere knock Collingwood off their mantle... they have all the money, resources, supporter base, media coverage. I think they need a reality check to remind them that they are massive underachievers.
but crowd pulling is way in their advantage. mcg compared to skilled.
 

Claude Balls

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#15
Football is a curious game, had Fraser been fit there was every chance it would have been Collingwood playing against Port in the GF, an injustice based on your season no doubt, but barely a breath away in the end
And if Egan had played, our attacking defenders like Milburn (who played on Cloke for the most part) and Mackie, probably would have had much better games...

Ottens would have shat on Fraser anyway... remember, Richards played like he always does - it was Ottens who played exceptionally well that made the difference... he would have beaten anyone.

Regardless, we were never going to lose that game.
 
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#16
The Brissy lions won three in a row but they are well and truly back to the field now especially with crowd numbers. Same will happen to geelong, people will hop oin and then the passionate fans will stay when the team isnt doin as well
'roos come to mind as well - they dominated large parts of the last decade.

adelaide have @50k don't they?



the 'pies, for all their "working-class" roots, look a lot like meglomaniacs - bigger is better.
i wonder if the cats will ever get to wear 'home' shorts against 'em again? not that it's imperative to do so, just 'why' it is so.





they should put "land of the free, home of the brave" in their club song.
 

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#17
I can't wait to see how many members we get in 2008. You would think at least 95% of existing members would re-sign up to start with. That's 30,000. Add another 4-5 thousand of lapsed members who can't wait to get back on board. Throw in another 1-2 thousand new members who have always wanted to get one but needed that little bit of encouragement. When you look at it like that it's not unreasonable to assume we could nudge 40,000 members. After seeing all those people at KP the day after the grand final nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to the spirit of this city.

Collingwood will probably have a slight increase in members due to their gutsy performance in the prelim so I reckon they'll be the No1 team for a few more years to come.
 
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#18
The crows are the biggest team in Australia not collingwood.
One day Geelong could potentially take over but not in the next ten and it will require a lot of continued success from Geelong.
 

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#19
If only they sold memberships the day after the Grand Final. We'd have 30,000 signed up already!!

Cats would be dissapointed not to get 35,000 members in 2008. We struggled passed 30,000 this year but that was after an ordinary year. In 2005 we had 32,000 IIRC so I'd imagine we'll go rather well in membership numbers this season.
 
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