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Expansion Third WA-Based AFL Club ??

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They need to put one in Either Albany/Busselton or Broome however

Not going to happen...ever.

Albany has a population of 25,000
Busselton has a population of 20,000
Broome has a population of 11,500

So even if EVERY person in the town became a member, they'd fall well short of acceptable crowds.

Mandurah (67,800) and Bunbury (57,700) are better options, though still low in population.

Remember that the only real non-capital team in the AFL is Geelong and they have 161,000 people.
 
Not going to happen...ever.

Albany has a population of 25,000
Busselton has a population of 20,000
Broome has a population of 11,500

So even if EVERY person in the town became a member, they'd fall well short of acceptable crowds.

Mandurah (67,800) and Bunbury (57,700) are better options, though still low in population.

Remember that the only real non-capital team in the AFL is Geelong and they have 161,000 people.

Mandurah and Bunbury are actually 83k and 66k - your numbers are just the council populations.

Your point is still valid - although with another 100k in Rockingham and growing at around 5% per year a side in the Peel region is potentially feasible in 15 years or so, when you'd expect the area to have around 400k people.

The problem I see with Joondalup is that the area is heartland for the Eagles already. How many of them are going to convert? You would need the bulk of them to do that to be a viable AFL club. I doubt many will at all.
 

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Not going to happen...ever.

Albany has a population of 25,000
Busselton has a population of 20,000
Broome has a population of 11,500

So even if EVERY person in the town became a member, they'd fall well short of acceptable crowds.

Mandurah (67,800) and Bunbury (57,700) are better options, though still low in population.

Remember that the only real non-capital team in the AFL is Geelong and they have 161,000 people.

But with the Population of Bumbury/Busselton/Albany/Broome is going to explode why not put a football team down there, would probably help expand one of those towns.
 
Mandurah and Bunbury are actually 83k and 66k - your numbers are just the council populations.

Your point is still valid - although with another 100k in Rockingham and growing at around 5% per year a side in the Peel region is potentially feasible in 15 years or so, when you'd expect the area to have around 400k people.

The problem I see with Joondalup is that the area is heartland for the Eagles already. How many of them are going to convert? You would need the bulk of them to do that to be a viable AFL club. I doubt many will at all.

I imagine the target audiance for Joondalup would be anyone in south west WA.

Joondalup would be where they played. Its not liek Western Sydney where they would primarily target one region (no doubt they would want to make Joondalup a heartland but it wont be their confines). If WA got 3 teams the tribal factor will become stronger than the geographic factor, just like in vic.
 
I imagine the target audiance for Joondalup would be anyone in south west WA.

No-one south of Stirling is going to support a Joondalup side. They'd be mad to put any resources into attracting them.

Joondalup would be where they played. Its not liek Western Sydney where they would primarily target one region (no doubt they would want to make Joondalup a heartland but it wont be their confines). If WA got 3 teams the tribal factor will become stronger than the geographic factor, just like in vic.

Clubs in Victoria also have 100+ years of history and family connections to build on. You go back far enough and you can bet there will have been pretty strong geographic connections.
 
Let's focus on making sure the new teams become entrenched into their markets, and THEN think about the possibility of expanding further. It's waaaay too early to really talk about any more teams in the AFL, especially since events we can't forsee could change the equation between now and 2020.
 
Tassie would feel a bit hard done?

Anyway, I love it with 16 teams, savouring this year massively. 19 teams would be over the top.
 
I would have thought the 3rd team needs to based in the Perth metro area to enhance the new stadiums viability.

Is a team from Peel going to play at Stadium WA or at a boutique ground in the region?
 
I hate the idea of a 3rd team ...... North of River v South of River against what?

Further North (Joondalup?) / Further South (Mandurah?)

Andrew Shitface is business man he's for the MONEY and NOT for the AFL!

all this $$$ should be put into helping clubs like melb and rich from going bankrupt not giving out new licenses making a NBA style W v E?

I reckon he should focus on making the AFL stronger by reinforcing clubs e.g. Melb, Rich, NM port etc... not expanding trying to destroy the NRL... kill soccer yeh but not the NRL :)
What does Andy D have to do with it? :confused:
Sounds like it was the idea of the WAFL clubs not the AFL to me.
 

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I say go to 3 teams before a new stadium!
This builds the third teams membership as WCE is already over capacity and Freo is close to capacity, and while we still have people who remember supporting a WAFL club during their childhood who can become supporters of the new club, just like Freo supporters did.

The Falcons interest may have been sparked by WCE's desire to get into the WAFL, which I thought was a pretty big up yours to all the WAFL clubs which would form their zone if we didn't have the Draft.

I would like to see the 3rd team from the eastern corridor though, then we have a nice logical geographic split of 3 afl teams fed by 9 wafl teams.
Freo - East Freo, Sth Freo & Peel.
WCE - Claremont, Subi & West Perth,
and...
The RoyalDemonSwans

and then...
Push for Zone tied picks in the early rounds of the draft, so that we don't lose so many good WA players to bankrupt melbourne clubs or experiment clubs in rugby land.
 
I'd personally rather see a new team in Tassie, North Queensland or even a team representing the country's interior and NT (not sure where they'd be based though, Alice is too small and Darwin perhaps too far away). And these options only if another team folds.

Why north Queensland?
they don't even have a state league team yet
 
In the next 16 years Perths population is expected to increase by 500,000 (31,000 per annum aka below current rates) to 902,000 (56,000 per annum).

Perth currently has 1.5 million people devided between two clubs meaning 750,00 per club. So even if Perth only grows by 500,000 people in the next 16 years then that would bulge out to one million supporters plus per club. If a third club came in it would reduce that to 666,000 people per club well above what Victoria has.

We can support a third team by 2026 piss because we could nearly do it now. A third team would help us get that new stadium more than delaying a third team.
 
Not going to happen...ever.

Albany has a population of 25,000
Busselton has a population of 20,000
Broome has a population of 11,500

So even if EVERY person in the town became a member, they'd fall well short of acceptable crowds.

Mandurah (67,800) and Bunbury (57,700) are better options, though still low in population.

Remember that the only real non-capital team in the AFL is Geelong and they have 161,000 people.
Geelong has an urban area of about 180,000 under latest statistics. Its also has a "regional population" of a bit above 300,000 due to towns like Ocean Grove, Torquay, Drysdale, Lara, Bannockburn etc being 15-20 minutes drive from the CBD. A lot of people also come from Melbourne (about the same distance as Perth -> Mandurah) as they have always barracked for the Cats but Mandurah wouldn't have that.

A city the size of Geelong would struggle with a new team so I don't think Mandurah is a possibility. You would need membership to be something like 2/3 of the population. The AFL will base a 3rd team in Perth.
 

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Mandurah is seperated from Perth by one kilometer of scrub South of Singleton, it will simply be absorbed into the Metro Area for planning reasons sooner or later. Mandurah Council will fight it but it has to happen, Mandurahs population stats are not included in Perth inspite of it being totally dependent on Perth. All of Perths planning must take into account Mandurah and visa versa.

Currently there is only one arterial road between Mandurah and Perth as well as the Freeway. That wont last forever, Foreshore Drive in Singleton (Suburb of Perth) will one day connect to Sabina Drive in Madora Bay (Suburb of Mandurah)

A Mandurah team is pretty much a Perth team but it reduces it broad base appeal. The Northern Suburbs are growing faster with some massive land releases that will unfold in Alkimos, Yanchep and Two Rocks over the next two decades.
 
Mandurah would be the obvious choice wouldn't it? They could concentrate on southern WA.

How do you think WA folks would respond to a relocated team?
 
Plenty of North supporters in WA. ;)

There are, but I am not being club specific, just wondering if WA parochialism would stymie such a move.

I'll tell you this much, if my beloved North had to go under I would sooner see her go to the footy loving public of WA rather than a bunch of corporate pimps on the Gold Coast or Western Sydney.
 
There are, but I am not being club specific, just wondering if WA parochialism would stymie such a move.

A relocated club would need to walk the extremely fine line of keeping the Victorian supporters happy while still becoming local enough to attract new supporters here. It's damn hard, as Brisbane know, and Fitzroy have comparatively **** all supporters compared to any current Victorian club.

If any Victorian club was the become the 'Perth XXXX', then assuming it isn't Collingwood or Essendon they're only going to have a couple of thousand local fans here at most, and it is hard to see where the new supporters are going to come from. It's not like there is this huge undercurrent of footy fans that don't support an AFL club. Might get a few thousand neutrals that join up because they can get a premium seat on the wing.
 

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Expansion Third WA-Based AFL Club ??


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