Footy in Queensland

[GC2015]

It's a good point on Walter, soo representation should be based upon where you have spent the bulk of your years. So that difference in ages 9, compared to 13, changes things.

I didn't know that about Rogers, all i knew is one of his parents is South African (which i probably heard from you anyway). PBC is an absolute factory for producing sports stars.

It's the same reason I'd say Will Ashcroft should play for Queensland in a hypothetical SoO match. Born and raised on the Gold Coast where he spent the first 14.5 years of his life and returned to Queensland for a year when he was 17. I don't think spending just under three years in Victoria should make him eligible for the Big V when he spent nearly 16 years in Queensland. Walter did an even split between WA & Queensland by moving over at age 9 but obviously the second half of those years are far more influential when it comes to football development so I'd preference Queensland for that reason. The most recent SoO rules also preference it that way.

All I can find on Rogers is that he was born in Melbourne but moved to the Gold Coast at a "young age". I believe his mother is South African and I'd say his father is a Melbourne native that got him into footy. Not sure if he played any junior footy in Melbourne but I know he was playing for Broadbeach in the U9s local GCAFL competition a decade ago. So Rogers has spent at least 10 years living on the GC and is very much a local in that sense. Read and Graham have also played at PBC since the U10s level.

IMO Ashcroft, Walter, Read, Rogers and Graham should all play for Queensland in a hypothetical SoO competition based on their backgrounds, which means the Maroons have the potential to be a very strong state team in a few years from now.

 

[Cunnington Cartel]

Half right. Definitely born in WA and spent his early years there but this link reveals he never played any junior footy while in WA and moved to the Gold Coast at age 9. "I started playing footy when I moved over. Playing local footy and then I got selected in the SUNS Academy when I was 12." He does concede that he comes from a "big AFL family" but it's also important to acknowledge that he went to a school (PBC) that's known for producing NRL players and "everyone thought (he) was going to switch over to play rugby league". So yes, he comes from a footy background BUT there was also a lot of pressure on him to play rugby league and he resisted.


Walter would still play SoO for Queensland if teams were made today. Moved over at age 9 and played all his junior footy for Palm Beach Currumbin. Same deal as Nick Riewoldt.

There hasn't really been much else on the others except for Jake Rogers spending the early years of his life in Melbourne. I assume that means Read and Graham are Gold Coast born and bred but I don't have any evidence of that. Funnily enough Walter, Read and Graham have all played juniors together at PBC since 10 years of age. Pretty incredible story that all three about to be draft with top 30 picks.

Ahh okay, thanks for clearing that up. He’s definitely a Qld product then. PBC SHS is just a massive sports school across the board though. They even have a surfing excellence program there. They might have a rep for producing NRL players but they also have (by far) the strongest school footy program in the state. They won all four secondary titles in the AFLQ schools cup this year: junior/senior, male/female.

 

[Bjo187]

All good news. The one thing the AFL has to deal with though is crap like this. Did you guys know the AFL is putting a team in western Brisbane? and that the only Australian invented sport can somehow invade..... Australia?

It may seem trivial, but this constant scare campaign doesn't help at all with local Queenslander that loves their rugby, in wanting to give footy a go.

 

[Cubs2Lions]

All good news. The one thing the AFL has to deal with though is crap like this. Did you guys know the AFL is putting a team in western Brisbane? and that the only Australian invented sport can somehow invade..... Australia?

It may seem trivial, but this constant scare campaign doesn't help at all with local Queenslander that loves their rugby, in wanting to give footy a go.

View attachment 1845712View attachment 1845713

Don’t think to worry about another Brisbane NRL team coming in, as the more likely option for the 18th slot will be a PNG / Pacific team (with Wayne Bennett also hot favourite to take charge).

In saying that, the AFL should definitely improve AFL participation rates and support in North Queensland region soon and Hawthorn or North Melbourne should start hosting their secondary home games in Cairns (once Tasmania deal is finished) to mitigate the NRL’s pacific team that would be based in Cairns.

Even if the NRL do decide for another Brisbane team in the next 5-10 years, surely the AFL can’t put another team in Brisbane though given we were pretty much irrelevant and financially black-hole not long ago, til Swann, Nobes and Fages came to the rescue.

Rather would have 1 strong Brisbane team then 2 poor teams based in the same city.

 

[Bjo187]

Don’t think to worry about another Brisbane NRL team coming in, as the more likely option for the 18th slot will be a PNG / Pacific team (with Wayne Bennett also hot favourite to take charge).

In saying that, the AFL should definitely improve AFL participation rates and support in North Queensland region soon and Hawthorn or North Melbourne should start hosting their secondary home games in Cairns (once Tasmania deal is finished) to mitigate the NRL’s pacific team that would be based in Cairns.

Even if the NRL do decide for another Brisbane team in the next 5-10 years, surely the AFL can’t put another team in Brisbane though given we were pretty much irrelevant and financially black-hole not long ago, til Swann, Nobes and Fages came to the rescue.

Rather would have 1 strong Brisbane team then 2 poor teams based in the same city.

Yes agree, it still doesn't make sense to me why gold coast would play in Darwin and the hawks and north would play in North QLD though. It's pretty stupid. The suns should be expanding their fan base in QLD.

 

[Cubs2Lions]

Yes agree, it still doesn't make sense to me why gold coast would play in Darwin and the hawks and north would play in North QLD though. It's pretty stupid. The suns should be expanding their fan base in QLD.

Gold Coast shouldn’t be playing in Darwin and stick with Gold Coast and SEQ but when Tasmania does gain entry, North Melbourne would need another secondary home base to help build their brand improve financially, with Hawthorn probably fine to survive and play all their home matches in Melbourne.

If it wasn’t for the ACT government sewing up another 10 year deal with GWS, would have got them to play in Canberra and GWS to just worry about gaining traction in their home state in NSW.

However, wouldn’t be the worst if North Melbourne and St. Kilda (two smallest VIC clubs) host matches in Cairns and Townsville separately (1-2 games max) to help build support in those markets, otherwise the NRL will run right over them with NQ Cowboys and future Cairns/PNG team in the future.

The other option could be Brisbane taking a game or two to North Queensland every year (when the GABBA is unavailable for future period of time), however that idea is strongly negative among Brisbane supporters here.

 

[Cunnington Cartel]

Don’t think to worry about another Brisbane NRL team coming in, as the more likely option for the 18th slot will be a PNG / Pacific team (with Wayne Bennett also hot favourite to take charge).

In saying that, the AFL should definitely improve AFL participation rates and support in North Queensland region soon and Hawthorn or North Melbourne should start hosting their secondary home games in Cairns (once Tasmania deal is finished) to mitigate the NRL’s pacific team that would be based in Cairns.

Even if the NRL do decide for another Brisbane team in the next 5-10 years, surely the AFL can’t put another team in Brisbane though given we were pretty much irrelevant and financially black-hole not long ago, til Swann, Nobes and Fages came to the rescue.

Rather would have 1 strong Brisbane team then 2 poor teams based in the same city.

I’m interested to see how the future secondary market situation plays out as well. North supporters have lost patience with the concept after 25 years of FIFO games. After Tassie, if it remains a necessary evil for us from a financial standpoint then I’d say we’re much more likely to explore options closer to home, such as Albury-Wodonga or Bendigo.

Originally, we were cultivating the Ballarat market for ourselves until we started showing interest in Hobart as well, which led to us being shafted by the AFL and Dogs. There will be backlash from North supporters if the club opts to play games somewhere like Cairns or Darwin because it will encourage others to kick start relocation rumours again. The supporters don’t want this at all and I’m sure the club doesn’t either, especially since they’re such a committed partner in the Arden urban renewal project.

Is there any reason why you have a preference for Victorian clubs playing FiFo games in Cairns?

I think that another option on the table could be for the Suns to leave Darwin and shift those games to Cairns and then another club can play a few in Darwin. Perhaps the Suns wouldn’t want that as they’d prefer to keep the NT as an academy region?

 

[GC2015]

Ahh okay, thanks for clearing that up. He’s definitely a Qld product then. PBC SHS is just a massive sports school across the board though. They even have a surfing excellence program there. They might have a rep for producing NRL players but they also have (by far) the strongest school footy program in the state. They won all four secondary titles in the AFLQ schools cup this year: junior/senior, male/female.

PBC is most definitely still a rugby league school but I see what you're saying. The AFLQ Schools Cup is really just a two horse race between PBC and Helensvale each year so I don't think that's a great indication of how seriously they take footy. As for the growth of footy on the southern GC, there's a big factor at play here and that is the changing clientele on the southern Gold Coast. Real estate in the southern suburbs of the GC has become quite expensive in recent years ($1 million+) and that is naturally pushing rugby league inclined people out because they typically come from a working class backgrounds. That's not a shot at rugby league either, they are proudly blue collar and will tell you whenever they get the chance. It's just the reality of what's happening on the Gold Coast right now.

It would also appear that the recent boom in migration from the southern states are mostly preferencing a sea change in the southern Gold Coast and that's increasing the footy player pool at local clubs like Burleigh/PBC which means southern schools like PBC are having more Aussie rules inclined students enroll than they would have in decades gone by. All four of our academy stars this year are from the southern Gold Coast and if you look into any U18, U16, U14, U12 etc footy rep team on the GC then you'll notice it's dominated by star players from southern clubs like Burleigh, PBC and even Broadbeach takes in a lot of southern players. Historically the junior standouts from the Gold Coast came from the central suburbs like Surfers Paradise and Southport but that is no longer the case.

Even political affiliations are changing in the southern Gold Coast. The southern seats like Burleigh and Currumbin were historically stronghold areas for the LNP and now most of them are marginal seats that could very well swing to Labor in next year's state election and also have decent support for the Greens. That's another reason I'm led to believe it's mostly Victorians that are settling on the southern Gold Coast when compared to other parts of the city. Certainly less blue collar and more left leaning folk in the southern suburbs these days.

Yes agree, it still doesn't make sense to me why gold coast would play in Darwin and the hawks and north would play in North QLD though. It's pretty stupid. The suns should be expanding their fan base in QLD.

I think playing in Darwin was really just a convenient excuse to receive money from the NT government and add the area to our academy zone so we could more easily improve our list back when we hit rock bottom and the AFL announced our concessions package in 2019. Two birds one stone situation for the AFL. Ideally we would be focusing on North Queensland and I suspect that will be the case going forward when the Darwin zone is removed at some point over the next few years (other AFL clubs will complain when we start playing finals). I don't think Dimma will like the idea of playing home games far away/interstate going forward so once Tassie are ready to go we'll probably see a team like North or Hawthorn selling a home game or two to Cairns/Darwin and the Suns will likely be involved as the away team.

 

[Cunnington Cartel]

PBC is most definitely still a rugby league school but I see what you're saying. The AFLQ Schools Cup is really just a two horse race between PBC and Helensvale each year so I don't think that's a great indication of how seriously they take footy. As for the growth of footy on the southern GC, there's a big factor at play here and that is the changing clientele on the southern Gold Coast. Real estate in the southern suburbs of the GC has become quite expensive in recent years ($1 million+) and that is naturally pushing rugby league inclined people out because they typically come from a working class backgrounds. That's not a shot at rugby league either, they are proudly blue collar and will tell you whenever they get the chance. It's just the reality of what's happening on the Gold Coast right now.

It would also appear that the recent boom in migration from the southern states are mostly preferencing a sea change in the southern Gold Coast and that's increasing the footy player pool at local clubs like Burleigh/PBC which means southern schools like PBC are having more Aussie rules inclined students enroll than they would have in decades gone by. All four of our academy stars this year are from the southern Gold Coast and if you look into any U18, U16, U14, U12 etc footy rep team on the GC then you'll notice it's dominated by star players from southern clubs like Burleigh, PBC and even Broadbeach takes in a lot of southern players. Historically the junior standouts from the Gold Coast came from the central suburbs like Surfers Paradise and Southport but that is no longer the case.

Even political affiliations are changing in the southern Gold Coast. The southern seats like Burleigh and Currumbin were historically stronghold areas for the LNP and now most of them are marginal seats that could very well swing to Labor in next year's state election and also have decent support for the Greens. That's another reason I'm led to believe it's mostly Victorians that are settling on the southern Gold Coast when compared to other parts of the city. Certainly less blue collar and more left leaning folk in the southern suburbs these days.


I think playing in Darwin was really just a convenient excuse to receive money from the NT government and add the area to our academy zone so we could more easily improve our list back when we hit rock bottom and the AFL announced our concessions package in 2019. Two birds one stone situation for the AFL. Ideally we would be focusing on North Queensland and I suspect that will be the case going forward when the Darwin zone is removed at some point over the next few years (other AFL clubs will complain when we start playing finals). I don't think Dimma will like the idea of playing home games far away/interstate going forward so once Tassie are ready to go we'll probably see a team like North or Hawthorn selling a home game or two to Cairns/Darwin and the Suns will likely be involved as the away team.

Thanks for all the detail. It’s fascinating to hear about the changing demographics of the area. I’m aware of plenty of Tasmanians who have moved to the coast over the past decade as well. Southern Tas is one of the most Green regions of the country, politically, so the flow of people from there would be contributing to the trend as well (albeit on a smaller scale).

In relation to the school’s cup, Helensvale have dropped off a bit recently. This year PBC played in the grand final against Varsity with both girls’ finals and St Laurie’s with the boys’. Helensvale are still quite strong with the boys, Mountain Creek beat them this year though, but their girls are a fair bit off the pace now. It’s good to see some other schools get stronger, perhaps a sign of the development of youth footy across the board in SEQ.

 

[GC2015]

Thanks for all the detail. It’s fascinating to hear about the changing demographics of the area. I’m aware of plenty of Tasmanians who have moved to the coast over the past decade as well. Southern Tas is one of the most Green regions of the country, politically, so the flow of people from there would be contributing to the trend as well (albeit on a smaller scale).

In relation to the school’s cup, Helensvale have dropped off a bit recently. This year PBC played in the grand final against Varsity with both girls’ finals and St Laurie’s with the boys’. Helensvale are still quite strong with the boys, Mountain Creek beat them this year though, but their girls are a fair bit off the pace now. It’s good to see some other schools get stronger, perhaps a sign of the development of youth footy across the board in SEQ.

I'm sure the Tasmanians are contributing just like South Aussies and West Aussies but I'm inclined to think it's mostly Vics. I know a few Territorians (both ACT & NT) who have moved over recently as well. The political swing in those seats seems to be more in line with Victoria but other states/territories would be contributing in that sense too like you pointed out with Tassie.

Admittedly I hadn't looked at this year's AFLQSC results but Varsity also happens to be a school based on the southern Gold Coast that runs an AFL excellence program that's about to deliver a pair of first rounders in Jake Rogers this year and Leo Lombard next year as well as very talented female players like Havana Harris. There's also a few other schools like Hillcrest on the southern GC that are starting to make waves in junior footy. It really is changing quite a bit on the southern Gold Coast and that's driving footy here.

St Laurie's has developed a really good relationship with the Brisbane Lions in recent years and appear to be their preferred private school of choice. Luke Hodge's son goes there and I know one of their recent draftees completed year 12 there. It's a nice arrangement for the Lions but what they really want is to build these types of relationships with the prestigious GPS schools in Brisbane, but that's going to be extremely difficult with the stranglehold rugby union has on those schools.

 

[Bjo187]

I'm sure the Tasmanians are contributing just like South Aussies and West Aussies but I'm inclined to think it's mostly Vics. I know a few Territorians (both ACT & NT) who have moved over recently as well. The political swing in those seats seems to be more in line with Victoria but other states/territories would be contributing in that sense too like you pointed out with Tassie.

Admittedly I hadn't looked at this year's AFLQSC results but Varsity also happens to be a school based on the southern Gold Coast that runs an AFL excellence program that's about to deliver a pair of first rounders in Jake Rogers this year and Leo Lombard next year as well as very talented female players like Havana Harris. There's also a few other schools like Hillcrest on the southern GC that are starting to make waves in junior footy. It really is changing quite a bit on the southern Gold Coast and that's driving footy here.

St Laurie's has developed a really good relationship with the Brisbane Lions in recent years and appear to be their preferred private school of choice. Luke Hodge's son goes there and I know one of their recent draftees completed year 12 there. It's a nice arrangement for the Lions but what they really want is to build these types of relationships with the prestigious GPS schools in Brisbane, but that's going to be extremely difficult with the stranglehold rugby union has on those schools.

The AFL is going to be having a billion dollars in revenue per year soon, if they stopped over spending on stupid stuff, they could actually pay the GPS schools or board of the GPS schools or whoever, to ensure AFL is introduced into their programs. Grease a few palms i think the saying is.

 

[dave10]

Gold Coast shouldn’t be playing in Darwin and stick with Gold Coast and SEQ but when Tasmania does gain entry, North Melbourne would need another secondary home base to help build their brand improve financially, with Hawthorn probably fine to survive and play all their home matches in Melbourne.

If it wasn’t for the ACT government sewing up another 10 year deal with GWS, would have got them to play in Canberra and GWS to just worry about gaining traction in their home state in NSW.

However, wouldn’t be the worst if North Melbourne and St. Kilda (two smallest VIC clubs) host matches in Cairns and Townsville separately (1-2 games max) to help build support in those markets, otherwise the NRL will run right over them with NQ Cowboys and future Cairns/PNG team in the future.

The other option could be Brisbane taking a game or two to North Queensland every year (when the GABBA is unavailable for future period of time), however that idea is strongly negative among Brisbane supporters here.

Good post, some good thought providers there. I read during the week a proposed PNG team would be expected to be based in Sydney. Let’s see.

I’m on the GC, AFL has achieved great traction here. Grassroots abd junior ranks strong and growing. They just need the Suns guys to be finals like to see the crowds really grow nicely. It’s there for the Suns, it just needs to happen now. With GC region heading to 1M residents soon, it’s a big area the AFL can capitalise on irrespective of what happens in FNQ. But your points are valid, the AFL has some traction in FNQ so it makes sense to keep nurturing it strategically.

The Brisbane market is tougher, more rusted on league. However, if the Lions and AFL deliver a great new stadium (Olympics) and investment in participation then the AFL has every chance to cement itself as the viable #2 , especially if Union and A League keep helping them!

 

[Cubs2Lions]

Good post, some good thought providers there. I read during the week a proposed PNG team would be expected to be based in Sydney. Let’s see.

I’m on the GC, AFL has achieved great traction here. Grassroots abd junior ranks strong and growing. They just need the Suns guys to be finals like to see the crowds really grow nicely. It’s there for the Suns, it just needs to happen now. With GC region heading to 1M residents soon, it’s a big area the AFL can capitalise on irrespective of what happens in FNQ. But your points are valid, the AFL has some traction in FNQ so it makes sense to keep nurturing it strategically.

The Brisbane market is tougher, more rusted on league. However, if the Lions and AFL deliver a great new stadium (Olympics) and investment in participation then the AFL has every chance to cement itself as the viable #2 , especially if Union and A League keep helping them!

With the NRL situation, the ideal situation what I’ve heard from people in high-ends of the sport (personal don’t follow it mind you) is that the ideal 18th team would be located PNG and will be funded by the Australian Government but the Club’s HQ and home matches will be split in Cairns (where they apparently will build 15/20k stadium out there and safer for players) while some home matches in Port Moresby also for economic and support in their own country.

However, the North Sydney Bears (that used to play in the main league before professionalism) have always had an interest of joining back into the main league and have conversations with every current expansion option (Brisbane 3, Perth, NZ2, Central Coast, Pacific) about using their nickname as “Bears” and to joint-venture with the club so they could always play the odd game or two back in NSO and keep the Sydney-bias alive over in that sport, therefore if PNG did joint-venture with North Sydney, the team HQ probably would be based in NSW and play some home games there instead of Cairns but can see the former happening rather than the latter.

That’s why in my eyes at least, the AFL should really start funding resources and providing opportunity at community and professional level in North Queensland with the odd games by Victorian clubs (Kangaroos & Saints) being played out there (once Tasmania deal is finalised) especially in Cairns where it is AFL foothold currently but could soon be wiped out if that NRL team does come in, similar to how Townsville is now it is an NRL rusted-town.

Regarding the current set-up now though, agree that the Gold Coast Suns definitely need to be successful now with their current set-up of elite talent and head coach and this would result in sell-outs occurring constantly at Metricon Stadium, given the boom of population SEQ has had due to the pandemic and this would definitely increase further with the SEQ Olympics in 2032 furthermore.

Brisbane will always be the number 2 sport in that city given the rugby league dominance of the Broncos and Dolphins, with a team based in Western Corridor/Ipswich would be a massive blow for us. But if the Lions can continue playing consistent footy throughout these next 10-15 years and stay competitive til the GABBA rebuild and Olympics is finished in 2032, our crowd numbers could average between 30/35k with sell-outs of 50k occurring when the big Victorian clubs come to play and finals matches as well.

Should note though, I don’t live in Queensland myself so my opinions could be factually incorrect in some sense but looking on the outside, it looks like both clubs are growing nicely and will continue to grow massive strives in that state.

 

[GC2015]

Big moment for Queensland footy tonight by having four players taken in the first round of the draft for the first time ever. Even the famous 2006 Queensland draft class only had two first round picks. The sport is undeniably growing at the grassroots level in Queensland, both QLD teams broke their all-time membership records in 2023 and the Lions just made a GF which shows the game in great shape up here. Just need the Suns to come to the party and play finals next year. That's the last piece of the puzzle IMO.

 

[Bjo187]

Big moment for Queensland footy tonight by having four players taken in the first round of the draft for the first time ever. Even the famous 2006 Queensland draft class only had two first round picks. The sport is undeniably growing at the grassroots level in Queensland, both QLD teams broke their all-time membership records in 2023 and the Lions just made a GF which shows the game in great shape up here. Just need the Suns to come to the party and play finals next year. That's the last piece of the puzzle IMO.

Great stuff. I'd really like to see the AFL promote this better, I see barely anything in the news about it today. Even if it takes a sneaky paid article on news.com.au or something with the title 'Gold coast locals sweep the draft'.

All the money they pour into development, yet even the average footy fan with medium interest wouldn't know unless they watched the draft last night and listened closely.

It would really help with QLD kids recognising a path to the elite competition in the country and only further enhance talent numbers coming out of QLD if there was more promotion of this. The AFL really misses a beat with this for mine, it should be a proud moment for the game. One school on the gold coast basically matched/bettered the whole of South Australia for producing AFL talent.

 

[Miller1971]

it will be all over the Gold Coast Bulletin, but the Courier Mail barely understands AFL exists and to be fair, it was all GC related stuff.

I can't see a single Lions Academy kid getting drafted in 2023 at all, so there won't be much press about it

 

[Cubs2Lions]

it will be all over the Gold Coast Bulletin, but the Courier Mail barely understands AFL exists and to be fair, it was all GC related stuff.

I can't see a single Lions Academy kid getting drafted in 2023 at all, so there won't be much press about it

Patrick Snell (KPD) is probably the only one from our academy who could be drafted by any club for KPP depth, but that looks very unlikely and would be a late / rookie selection at best IMO.

 

[Miller1971]

Yep, and really he is an NT boy, not a true Lions Academy kid. Only moved down here in 2022.

 

[bullish23]

My nephews attend one of the largest Rugby Union schools in Brisbane.
This term they have begun pre-season AFL training for next year. (They play the school comp in Term 1 to avoid clashing with Rugby). It’s been treated very seriously.

Footy demographics in SE QLD have changed dramatically the past 10 years.

 

[GC2015]

Patrick Snell (KPD) is probably the only one from our academy who could be drafted by any club for KPP depth, but that looks very unlikely and would be a late / rookie selection at best IMO.

Ended up going #53 to the Swans. Definitely an NT product though and he only spent three years in Brisbane so was ineligible to be academy zoned to the Lions. Brisbane had three picks before the Swans selected Snell so the Lions could have certainly drafted him if they really wanted him but obviously that was not the case. Not really any different to Josh Fahey spending some time in the Suns academy but was very much a NSW product and got drafted accordingly. So yeah, not really a Queenslander unfortunately.

My nephews attend one of the largest Rugby Union schools in Brisbane.
This term they have begun pre-season AFL training for next year. (They play the school comp in Term 1 to avoid clashing with Rugby). It’s been treated very seriously.

Footy demographics in SE QLD have changed dramatically the past 10 years.

Can I ask what school that may be? Maybe more specifically, is it a GPS school? If it's a GPS school then that's pretty significant. If it's one of the lower level schools like St Laurie's then it's probably not as significant. Of course participation is great at all levels but the GPS is king when it comes to high level school sports in Brisbane and those schools almost always secure the very best junior athletes that they usually feed into the rugby codes or cricket.

 

[RUNVS]

My nephews attend one of the largest Rugby Union schools in Brisbane.
This term they have begun pre-season AFL training for next year. (They play the school comp in Term 1 to avoid clashing with Rugby). It’s been treated very seriously.

Footy demographics in SE QLD have changed dramatically the past 10 years.

If the AFL can convert Union fans or Union pathways that would be huge.

 

[LordLucifer]

There has to be another two QLD based clubs in the AFL, that way there is more reason for juniors to play the game in the knowledge that they stand a good chance to be picked up by a QLD club. Besides, Brisbane itself has a population in the vicinity of 3mill which is way too big just for one club.


Sunshine Coast Saints

North Brisbane Bandits

 

[Holy Rioli]

Sunshine Coast Saints

North Brisbane Bandits - would you base these guys in Zillmere or Cabulture? Could do with a Logan Lunatics team as well.

 

[bullish23]

Can I ask what school that may be? Maybe more specifically, is it a GPS school? If it's a GPS school then that's pretty significant. If it's one of the lower level schools like St Laurie's then it's probably not as significant. Of course participation is great at all levels but the GPS is king when it comes to high level school sports in Brisbane and those schools almost always secure the very best junior athletes that they usually feed into the rugby codes or cricket.

It’s neither of the schools you have mentioned. But I can assure you the school would be historically in the top 5 if not the top 3 rugby union schools in the state. So you’re talking rubbish. They also had two old boys playing prelim afl wknd.

 

[dave10]

Here’s a good snapshot of how AFL is making inroads in SEQ, specifically the Gold Coast. See todays (and yesterdays) Gold Coast Bulletin and the extensive coverage of the AFL and the Suns draft choices.

Today’s full back page and a double page spread inside the back cover, first pages of sport (immediately below. Yesterday’s coverage almost equal for AFL / NRL (below that). This is typical coverage and not just a two day focus because it’s draft time. The Suns / AFL certainly get almost daily coverage in this rag as well as the nightly news bulletins on Ch9 / Ch7, feature stories or just Club training updates etc.

The AFL / Bears certainly weren’t getting this extensive coverage 20-30 years ago. No wonder V’landys is worried about the AFL participation numbers and investment in grassroots footy. It’s growing and will keep growing.. And the Suns aren’t even winning