Is the National League Struggling ?

[Pessimistic]

.. Or, from another angle, Have the VIC clubs adapted to the national league and are now flourishing ?

It may be rubbing it in but after a weekend when only one interstate team won, There is no serious challenger for the flag and the roos - sydney experiment seems to be a flop you have to ask the question.
Aftr many years of continual AFL assistance to I/S teams we have now had three or four years of no assistance. The VIC clubs took a while to adjust to the draft/not being able to take ready-made players from WAFL/SANFL etc but now seem to have recruiting back in order. This coincides with VIC teams in the top four and a possibility of no I?S teams at all in the final 8.

Does this mean that, with a couple of exceptions, the I/S clubs need constant assistance (in recruitment especially) in order to compete over a few years' period.

I the AFL weren't so unpopular here in the heartland go you think they would be arranging a few more 'plugger to sydney' deals ?

Even North, Melbourne and Bulldogs who are supposed to be 'struggling' have a good squad of players to build on.

It's patently obvious that even though clubs may 'struggle' here in melbourne the alternative is an almighty struggle to move one to another market and to ultimately flourish.

Perhaps the time has come to call a halt and try to tend the markets the AFL already owns.

Then perhaps we might no longer have 'struggling' clubs. In any case it seems silly to let them get weaker just so you can shift them somewhere else (Fitzroy)

It should be sobering to note that there are only 4 clubs who are self sustaining (haven't had trouuble in the past 10 years) so that would be a very sorry league indeed - though no need to worry about uneven draws !!

I'm not saying go back to old VFL or anything like that, I'm just saying it's time to stop and let the market catch up

PS North v Port had a much bigger crowd in canberra than sunday's debacle. Pehaps It's time to realise that the swans themselves need more time to establish in sydney.

 

[RICE80]

I can't believe no club has tried Canberra out for a home game. Although I suspect it's because of the lack of a suitable venue, don't think Manuka (Spell?) can hold many. The AFL should pump some money into improving that situation in ACT, because there's alot of support for AFL up there.

Remember a few years back when we all (except interstaters) feared an all interstate G.F.. How times change or a few years is a long time....

BOMBER BLITZ IN 2000!

 

[Shinboners]

Pess

Well Richard Colless, the chairman of the Swans, was reported as saying that the Swans should have asked for more concessions in '95. The concession that he wanted was the right to sign one uncontracted player a year for ten years. This is for a club who have made the finals every year from 1996 to 1999 including the '96 Grand Final while in that time, clubs like Richmond and Collingwood have failed to make the finals.

The thing is that football clubs tend to go in cycles, the difference this time is that a club like North Melbourne cannot afford to spend 5 to 10 years in the lower reaches of the ladder. But while we look at the ladder and seeing Victorian clubs occupy the 7 out of the top 8 places, it wasn't that long ago (last season) where we looked at the ladder and saw the West Coast, Port Adelaide, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Sydney all in the top 8.

Having seen the drop in Sydney's home crowds this year, I've come around to the view that a second club isn't viable. It may be time for North to look seriously at Canberra or even Hobart. Pre-the Raiders, Canberra was an Australian Rules city, and I'm sure the AFL, IF THEY DID IT PROPERLY, could win the fans who switched from Australian Rules to rugby to return to their original sport. Tasmania is also an Australian Rules state and surely an AFL club could get crowds of 20 to 25,000 to a game if promoted properly. But I'm not holding my breath with the AFL's record of playing favourites and looking at short term goals instead of long term results.

 

[jod23]

I know its a little off subject but Rice80 said that melbourners all feared an all interstate final well it wouldnt have mattered anyway cos it still would have been played at the MCG. As you all know at least one game must be played every weekend at the G during the finals including the Grand Final which plainly says that Melbourne still gets special treatment over us interstaters and im sick of it. How many times West Coast has had to play in melb when we should be playing in perth, that rule has handicapped us and other interstate clubs for years and its about time Melbourne realised that its called the AFL the AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE not the VFL!!!!!!

2000 the year of the eagle