Do we need another AFL Club or are there too many as it is?

[TheKanga]

I think 20 teams would be plenty.
Tassie and a Third SA or WA team.

Leave it at that for the next 100 years.

 

[PerfectFooty]

18 clubs is good for the moment i reckon. ask me again in 2020.

None of the destinations named could really support an AFL side. NT and camberra wouldn't pull enough, you might be just lucky with Tassie. Not to mention NT is already hard as it's played during there hot season, holding one game up there as a one of is fine, but i can't imagine clubs would be happy to play there regularly. Any new team would send waves through fixturing and travel

Honsetly i think if the comp was going to expand i think you need to grow and further reward to loyal states (that means maybe Tassie) After going into Rugby heartland in the last expansion. But perhaps promote two clubs one from WA and one from SA. Give Norwood a invite and form a new perth club. But again not needed for now, give it a decade to settle or at least 5 years from now

 

[LordLucifer]

With A League expansion being on the agenda is it time to start talking about another new AFL team. Currently Canberra, the Northern Territory, Tasmania and Cairns do not have AFL teams. Should a new AFL team be formed

Yes, we need another four clubs so we can have a 21-week season whereby everyone plays each other once and then finals.

 

[DangerIsLove]

No but it is expanding.
They got 60k+ to a derby in Sydney earlier this season.

It is expanding and there is more of an atmosphere at the soccer than there is at the footy

 

[FootyJunkie]

 

[my name was taken]

No expansion until the current expansion teams are popular enough to bring a lot more new talent to the sport.

 

[footyfan1978]

No expansion until the current expansion teams are popular enough to bring a lot more new talent to the sport.

Yep, last 4 new franchises need to step up what they are adding.

 

[thegreig]

Yep, last 4 new franchises need to step up what they are adding.

I'd say PA and Freo are doing fine... Last two maybe

 

[NoobPie]

It is expanding and there is more of an atmosphere at the soccer than there is at the footy

It's expanding in that they are looking at adding more teams. The league itself has not got back to where it was in its second and third years when it had 8 teams. It has plateaued.

"There is more atmosphere at the soccer than at the footy" if by atmosphere you mean 500 odd people huddled up one end singing.

The afl shouldnt and won't make decisions to expand based on what the A League does.

 

[Bokonon_]

18 clubs is good for the moment i reckon. ask me again in 2020.

None of the destinations named could really support an AFL side. NT and camberra wouldn't pull enough, you might be just lucky with Tassie. Not to mention NT is already hard as it's played during there hot season, holding one game up there as a one of is fine, but i can't imagine clubs would be happy to play there regularly. Any new team would send waves through fixturing and travel

Honsetly i think if the comp was going to expand i think you need to grow and further reward to loyal states (that means maybe Tassie) After going into Rugby heartland in the last expansion. But perhaps promote two clubs one from WA and one from SA. Give Norwood a invite and form a new perth club. But again not needed for now, give it a decade to settle or at least 5 years from now

Not necessarily opposed but dont quite get the love for Norwood as an AFL side. Generally it seems to be be Port supporters suggesting it. Norwoods history is somewhat different, but maybe they feel it would validate them in some way, and limit the view of them as pariah's. Not.intending to dissrespect their SANFL supporters but no-one is suggesting a WAFL side be elevated for instance, that I've seen.
Do get the logic in a third WA and possibly SA side at some point in the future.

 

[Giant Heart]

Scared you'll no longer be the golden child handed a ridiculous amount of draft picks anymore?

I forgot that we we had an arrangement whereby we were handed concessions every year until a new expansion club joined. I mean, I could have sworn that we now have zero draft concessions, a salary cap in line with the rest of the competition and a rapidly depleting list of academies. But hey, you'd know better since you were trolling us with obvious facts.

 

[FootyJunkie]

AFL is going to be sticking to the big 5 metro markets.

AFL want to get third sides in Sydney and SEQ, but we are realistically talking 20-25 years away.

Not sure if the AFL can resist expanding for that long... third sides in Perth and Adelaide may be on the way in 10 or so years time if membership packages become exhausted for the existing AFL sides/venues there.

Joondalup? Norwood?

 

[Giant Heart]

You're just one of those guys, aren't you? Don't give a crap about anything unless it directly impacts you.

I believe that's referred to as privilege.

 

[Giant Heart]

Once again.

THE Fitzroy Football Club is already in Victoria. It never left. It never merged. 134 years old next year.

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In that case, what was the legitimate attraction for any Fitzroy supporter to follow Brisbane? It seems kind of cheeky that the AFL even use 'Lions' as an emblem. And why is it always referred to as a merger? Is that ignorance on the media's part?

 

[Giant Heart]

Need less teams
The quality of games has dropped, partly due to over complicated rule changes, partly because the draft pool hasn't expanded

Less teams = better players on each team = better games

Part of the business case for expansion sides has been built around growing the game outside of traditional markets. Hopefully, one day the regions of S.E. Queensland and Sydney can provide enough talent to supplement the two additional expansion clubs. I suspect that in time all of this will be realised.

 

[madmug]

I think 20 teams would be plenty.
Tassie and a Third SA or WA team.

Leave it at that for the next 100 years.

WA3 & Tas1.

 

[madmug]

It is expanding and there is more of an atmosphere at the soccer than there is at the footy

The 'atmosphere' at soccer come from the 'crowds' trying to entertain themselves.

 

[basashi]

I don't buy the idea that the talent is spread too thin.

In the old days the VFL was number one - but they didn't get every player who could make it. They got a handful of the best 50 WA players and a handful of the best 50 SANFL players. It is completely different now, with all the best players in the country in one league.

If anything, the old VFL had players getting a league game who wouldn't get one now.

 

[Giant Heart]

No we need to first cull teams in Victoria ... and the money we save on AFL distributions put towards a boutique stadium in Melbourne.

MCG - Melbourne, Collingwood

Etihad - Essendon, Carlton

3rd Stadium - Richmond, Hawthorn

Merge two of the following sides together Bulldogs, St Kilda & North ... the 3rd side goes to Tasmania

Where does Geelong factor in to this? I see them very similarly to the Newcastle Knights; a major regional Port City with a massive local following. Something would have to go drastically wrong for the Cats to be on the chopping block?

 

[madmug]

Where does Geelong factor in to this? I see them very similarly to the Newcastle Knights; a major regional Port City with a massive local following. Something would have to go drastically wrong for the Cats to be on the chopping block?

They dont have to worry. Victoria is clearly in a chopping block free zone. It doesnt matter how bad some of them are.

 

[PerfectFooty]

Not necessarily opposed but dont quite get the love for Norwood as an AFL side. Generally it seems to be be Port supporters suggesting it. Norwoods history is somewhat different, but maybe they feel it would validate them in some way, and limit the view of them as pariah's. Not.intending to dissrespect their SANFL supporters but no-one is suggesting a WAFL side be elevated for instance, that I've seen.
Do get the logic in a third WA and possibly SA side at some point in the future.

Norwood is probably one of the highest attended sides outside of the AFL, and were originally asked to join but decided to stay loyal to the sanfl, until Port made it's attempts creating Adelaide with them later joining. It just seemed right to have an old and respected side join rather just make a new one.

I would imagine though Norwood supporters follow Adelaide at AFL level, so there membership would take a hit with Norwood joining

 

[Bokonon_]

In that case, what was the legitimate attraction for any Fitzroy supporter to follow Brisbane? It seems kind of cheeky that the AFL even use 'Lions' as an emblem. And why is it always referred to as a merger? Is that ignorance on the media's part?

Good luck
There's a lot passion still amongst old Fitzroy fans. I tread ultra carefuĺly in any discussion. Not calling it a merger was inspired though. Did your homework and read the thread I assume.
My recollection of events is the adoption of emblem and colours was driven by the Bears not the AFL, the Bears were not looking good and had little to lose. Again as I recall they were happy to offer anything except home games in Brisbane in the hope of getting a Melbourne foĺlowing. I will now probably get righteous and vehement corrections, if my recollection is faulty.

 

[Bokonon_]

Norwood is probably one of the highest attended sides outside of the AFL, and were originally asked to join but decided to stay loyal to the sanfl, until Port made it's attempts creating Adelaide with them later joining. It just seemed right to have an old and respected side join rather just make a new one.

I would imagine though Norwood supporters follow Adelaide at AFL level, so there membership would take a hit with Norwood joining

You skim over some painful events, as I recall Norwood was in talks with the AFL but withdrew unlike Port. Crows seem to be one of the AFL clubs who could most survive a hit. I get they would suffer most with Port supporters a different breed. I'm not opposed but frankly think WA makes more sense commercially in a state and metropolis growing rapidly, and Tassie a compeĺling moral argument for inclusiveness.

 

[Giant Heart]

I get the Queensland thing. I guess Sydney gets considered because of population but my guess is if there ever is another NSW side it might be outside the Sydney basin. Newcastle might be a long term option, and would be a coming home in the sense the diamond league there is very traditional and the oldest league outside of Victoria.
I think WA is more likely with no issues winning support to AFL. My understanding is growth and urban sprawl is well underway. Would somewhere like Mandurah or Jòondalup be probable?

I could never see Newcastle backing an AFL side. Everyone there seems to hate AFL. Even the Jets are a struggling entity well behind the Knights. An AFL club would run a distant third and would most certainly be unviable. Perhaps in a other fifty years or so...

 

[Bokonon_]

I could never see Newcastle backing an AFL side. Everyone there seems to hate AFL. Even the Jets are a struggling entity well behind the Knights. An AFL club would run a distant third and would most certainly be unviable. Perhaps in a other fifty years or so...

Agreed. I just dont see another side in the Sydney basin for longer. This is some historical attachment. Can see crowds about the same as ours, but without the capacity for growth.