My unpopular opinion is that Victoria should not have 10 teams in a supposedly national competition. I know the AFL grew out of the VFL, but times have changed. This competition is meant to be for all of Australia, and yet half the teams in the competition are based in 1 city. I think at least 2 teams, possibly 3 from Melbourne should be relocated. It's absolute rubbish that in this age in a national competition that there is still a state without a team, and no representation for the Northern Territory which has produced so much brilliant Indigenous talent.
I would love to see 1 team move to Tasmania. Another move north and represent Northern Australia, playing games in Darwin and North Queensland. And if this New Zealand experiment works, move a team over there to engage our neighbours, open up the market and build talent over there. Obviously you would not move the big successful teams like Collingwood, Richmond, Hawthorn, Essendon who manage to get great membership numbers and bring lots of fans to the games. But the Bulldogs, the Demons and take your pick of St Kilda or North could be moved.
It would make fans angry, but I think it needs to happen to keep the game moving forward and to engage the whole country, and the next logical point of expansion, New Zealand. People would argue that their teams are old and have heritage and should be respected, but that doesn't really mean anything if they are a drain on the resources of the AFL. Some teams whether they like it or not have to move. Besides, Fitzroy was an old club, as was South Melbourne. There's a precedent.
And it's not like we can keep creating more teams. I would argue that 18 is already stretching the talent pool to breaking point. If we up it any more we are going to see skills continue to deteriorate in the AFL.