When are the minnow Melbourne clubs gonna cop the same criticism and scrutiny that we did about their crowds and performances? If us performing badly and getting 20k crowds means we should fold then half these clubs shouldn't even exist.
The Melbourne clubs do cop a bit of crap about the stadium deal, but they know they will be getting an awesome deal as soon as the AFL own Etihad, and the AFL have guaranteed their survival until then. They don't have anything to worry about.
The WA and SA sides have to support state leagues with revenue taken directly from their bottom line. No other club has to deal with that. The WA sides are bigger because the state is bigger, and the WAFL understands that strong WA AFL sides means strong WA football, so they don't feel the revenue hit as much as we do. As such, they're two of the biggest clubs in the league from a financial standpoint.
We cop it here about our crowds because the media wants to make it our fault, because if it's our fault, then it's not the SANFL's fault that we're struggling financially. The Port Adelaide people in the media have been too bloody weak to show how badly we're getting screwed. Now as a lot of people have said, it's probably not the right time to be riling up the SANFL in terms of stadium deal while we're negotiating, but it should have been happening years ago.
As REH always says, you don't get given power, you take it. The only way to take power over football in this state from the SANFL is to have enormous overwhelming public unrest. IMO the worst thing we could do now would be to sign a long term deal. The longer we wait, the further the Crows will separate from the SANFL and the more they'll support our side of the deal. Unfortunately, with 700,000 Crows supporters in the state, if we ever want to really effect change, we'll need those supporters to be mobilised against the SANFL like we are. It will take a sustained effort from Crows club legends to turn their supporter base around and stop cutting off their nose to spite their face.