- Nov 10, 2013
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of course it will be at Cararra, bigger than Giants stadium and they hosted finals
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Why doesnt Geelong play finals at GMHBA Stadium?
- Thread starter PowerfulPies2023
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And Kardinia is even bigger again.
Look, in all truth, I absolutely love MCG finals - nothing else like it in Australia. But we do get away disadvantage there when playing Melbourne clubs.
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So professionals should be able to deal with it
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Geelongs own fault for not building a bigger capacity stadium. Maybe hit Jacinta up for another loan and increase it to 100,000.
- May 20, 2014
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60k would be about a 0% chance against Freo, GC & GWS I would have thought. Crows maybe since they would be gagging for some finals and would drive across in big numbers.
We are better off football wise playing at the G these days anyway.
If Bulldogs v GWS can get 62k at the 'G, Geelong V Anyone could do that.
- May 20, 2014
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When was this mythical match you speak of? Looking at afl tables the biggest attendance between Bulldogs and GWS has been 30,672...
- May 20, 2014
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Saints were in the gagging for a finals match territory for that game. If we get a Thursday / Friday night game and Geelong supporters have to fight peak hour traffic to go, I'd be pretty surprised if they got 60k against Freo, GC or GWS.
SPOT ON
What do you mean big business now, finals have always been about big business, that is why finals were established in the first place!!
Finals were to be played as big blockbuster games where both sets of supporters (and neutrals) were able to get along. They were introduced to generate additional $$ for the league.
Finals were only ever played at the local suburban grounds as a last option...wars, unavailability of grounds.
This is the same in basically all competitions - SANFL held their big finals at football park, Port didn't play them at Alberton.
Even smaller local leagues in Melbourne play finals at bigger neutral venues, ie EDFL use Windy Hill...to try and maximize $$ and crowds.
As the AFL expanded into more markets, they made the pragmatic decision to expand finals to play them in each state. Again it was $$ driven more than anything...WC hosting GC is best held at Optus in front of 60k, and they want to expand the game in NSW and QLD so obvious to have them host finals also.
None of those pragmatic decisions apply to Geelong, they have a more appropriate stadium just up the road.
I think that what has actually changed, is the neutrality of those grounds.
Unless you were Melbourne or Richmond, in the 1970s, the MCG was neutral territory, and Waverley was completely neutral. Unless you were Geelong, they were all in the same city as you, so almost everyone was equally advantaged/disadvantaged, at least as much as we cared.
Now we have six clubs who call the MCG home, and nine clubs who don't call Melbourne home at all - so an MCG final is considered a more significant disadvantage to some.
Maybe... in 2011, we played West Coast in a prelim and got 60,000. That said, for the prelims against Brisbane in '22 and '24, we got 77k and 93k respectively.
Interesting perspective of neutral.
In the 1970s the G was clearly the home ground of just 2 teams, Melbourne and Richmond.
Nobody else played home games there at all, and the other 10 teams all played only 1 or 2 games at the G (away to Melbourne or Richmond).
In 2025, 9 different teams play home games at the G and 7 teams play more than 5 games at the G.
In addition, as so many teams are playing "home games" at the G, there are 3 teams who don't play any home games at the G, who also play 3 or more games at the G...Brisbane are more familiar at the G in 2025 than Geelong or Collingwood were back in the 1970s.
It used to be Melbourne and Richmond who were the only teams familiar with the G, now roughly half the league is familiar at the G - 9 teams play home games there, and 10 teams play 3 or more games at the G each year.
A Geelong comparisons for you
In 2022 - Geelong played 5 H&A games at the G (plus 2 finals) before the GF at the G
In 2011 - Geelong played 6 H&A games at the G (plus 2 finals) before the GF at the G
In 2009 - Geelong played 5 H&A games at the G (plus 2 finals) before the GF at the G
In 1967 - Geelong played just 2 H&A games at the G (plus 1 final) before the GF at the G
In 1954 - Geelong played 0 H&A games at the G, finished top and then were knocked out in PF by Melbourne at the G (Dees playing their 11th game at the G)
The MCG is a more neutral ground in 2025 than it was back in the VFL era.
Barrybran
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That's true, but we then played our first final, at 'home', at the MCG, 75km away from our home ground, against a side that had played there 14 times already that season.
For what it's worth, I don't think you could play that game at Geelong, it's just passing up such a fantastic opportunity for an all-time great game in front of 90,000 people. But it's definitely an advantage to Collingwood to play it there.
I think that what really annoys me is that Geelong doesn't get considered for a home final because the G is in the same state, but the same logic doesn't apply to Sydney, GWS (Stadium Australia) and won't apply to the Gold Coast (Gabba). Of course, there is then the fact that the GF is always played in Victoria...
You can't even get crowd numbers correct and yet, you patrol the Harley Reid threads thinking you are in the know
Wow, I listened to a radio segment about it, then went back and confirmed.
Still not wrong that 2 low support teams got over 60k and the game was played at the 'G because of it.
Not sure how this has anything to do with Harley Reid never playing for Geelong though
- Feb 13, 2011
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14/5 = 2.8 so Collingwood play 2.8x and they are by far the outlier. Hawks 10/5 = 2x, Dogs 2/5 = 0.4x
and compare those with the 60s where that number is more like 12/2 = 6x. when the cities were further apart.
You'd get more sympathy if you didn't have a winning record over Collingwood in the past 20 years, and a 5-2 finals record in that time.
GWS doesn't consistenly sellout their 22k stadium for finals, If they were the AFL would absolutely think about moving their game to SCG or reviving Stadium Australia. I imagine Gold Coast is going to struggle in the same way.
We all know it's an unfair competition, how will Tassie go if they make finals and draw Collingwood at home? I actually want Geelong to play at the MCG at finals time, that's where the Grand Final is and any experience on that ground in September is invaluable. There is a good chance Geelong might play Gold Coast first up, i have no problems with that game being played at the G!
- Nov 10, 2013
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- Hell no
wrong. any final here will sell out 100%
- May 12, 2015
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Tend to agree. There is a proper aussie rules culture on the GC, they won't all be suns fans but plenty of neutrals will attend too
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