Embarrassing

[skeptic]

I thought the concept of a team from GC was pretty good...

but look what they have done to it:
- Stupidest team icon "the Suns" who would support that? Not the sharks, stingrays, dolphins but suns!!!
- Horrible and not particularly original colour scheme
- Horrendous song made to sound like it's from the early 1900s when it's not
- And they have a licence to bascially steal players

It's all just so artificial

Follow that up with all the media guys being forced to talk them up all the time

"oh we were glad to get that win under our belt - such a danger game, don't want to underestimate them, they have so much potential" BLAH BLAH BLAH

We all know that 17 others clubs look forward to playing them in order to rest players and get a % boost

Geez I wish we honesty was allowed in the AFL

[citywest]

The stupidity in this post is mind boggling. In 4 years time Gold Coast will be in the top 4 and will stay there for at least 5 years.

[asiu]

in this thread.

..the weight of the old guard
like a millstone on kids tryn to be a side 'n mix it with the big fellas

Shame.

[saintspremiers]

The stupidity in this post is mind boggling. In 4 years time Gold Coast will be in the top 4 and will stay there for at least 5 years.

And you will be banned by then sunny boy jimbo!

[samuraisaint]

And the Demons?

Wouldn't be surprised at all if GC won a flag before us.

judging by what I saw yesterday I doubt that very much -
and don't use an analogy with the Bears to support your contention - they had to merge with Fitzroy and get salary cap exemptions from the AFL for years and years to achieve success.

Would much rather be in our situation than theirs.

As for the Demons, they have almost 40,000 members incredibly - but they are proof that losing, like winning, becomes a habit. The only thing that gets me is - how come they keep beating Essendon and we can't (for nigh on thirty years)?

[3rd generation saint]

Here's an interesting point, when all our establisehed players and stars like Roo, Kosi, BJ etc started out 10+ years ago, they had a team of experienced players too mentor them.
We had Buckets, Harvey, Burke, Thompson, Austin Jones, Max. Plus we acquired Fraser and Hammill.
These guys we're invaluable to the developement of our youth, not to mention the youth of any team.
But Gold Coast and GWS have no mentors, well in Gold Coasts case they have Gary Ablett.
That is why these teams will take years, if not decades to be successful because the talented youth is being demoralised week in week out.
As the commentators said, don't be surprised if Gold Coast go on a big trading spree at the end of this season to trade some odf their highly prized early draft picks of the last two years for more experienced players who can help drag this team into being competitive.
That is why right now, I would not want to be trading any of our good players away, because we need them for the next generation of St.Kilda players.
However, I wouldn't mind if we picked up a couple of those talented youngsters and watched them blossom in an experienced club.

[samuraisaint]

The stupidity in this post is mind boggling. In 4 years time Gold Coast will be in the top 4 and will stay there for at least 5 years.

And your evidence for this is ...what? The Bears? Unless they follow their model of 'development' which includes an AFL sanctioned merger with a Melbourne side or Port -plus generous salary cap concessions - experience following footy for forty years leads me to believe that they will spend years and years in the middle order of teams, a la the Swans, Richmond, North, Freo, etc because of issues with player development, injuries, retirements of Ablett, Bock etc etc - and that is if they're lucky. If they 're not they could very likely spend a decade and a half at the bottom of the pile like us and Fitzroy had to do, that is if they don't get even more help than they are already getting.

Gold Coast, a legitimate top four side - not for at least the next ten years for mine.

[Dave McNamara]

The stupidity in this post is mind boggling. In 4 years time Gold Coast will be in the top 4 and will stay there for at least 5 years.

Hi CW, I hope your prediction is wrong - time will tell... however, regardless, it does not change my opinion on any of the new soul-less, artificial, kitsch franchises. They are AFL spin-doctored facades, not true historic clubs.




PS: I feel sorry for those supporters of South Melbourne and Fitzroy who buy into the AFL spin, and try to delude themselves that their historic old clubs still exist..., but just relocated interstate...

[loris]

And bring back Fitzroy at the Brunswick Street oval... just in case we do sell out and become the Wellington Boots, I could do the reverse of Peter Temple's Jack Irish and his mates...

Hey Dave Macca................. ABCTV wil be running the Jack Irish series on telly later this year. Just hope they don't take poetic license and turn Jack and his mates from being 'Roy supporters, then born again Sainters into Collingwood or Carlton supporters just to get ratings up.................... that just wouldn't do eh ?

[Dave McNamara]

And bring back Fitzroy at the Brunswick Street oval... just in case we do sell out and become the Wellington Boots, I could do the reverse of Peter Temple's Jack Irish and his mates...

Hey Dave Macca................. ABCTV wil be running the Jack Irish series on telly later this year. Just hope they don't take poetic license and turn Jack and his mates from being 'Roy supporters, then born again Sainters into Collingwood or Carlton supporters just to get ratings up.................... that just wouldn't do eh ?

Thanks Loris for the heads up. I shall be hanging out for that. I share your fears, but hopefully as it's on the ABC c/f one of the commercials, they'll do the right thing(???)

Book review: I read the series and loved them. Peter Temple is a master of the one-liners... I've also just finished Raymond Chandler's 'The Big Sleep'. Chandler is an acclaimed master of the hard-boiled detective genre, but I thought Peter Temple's trilogy was comfortably superior.

BTW, Loris, any idea if their watering hole The Prince of Prussia is a based on a real Fitzroy pub, and if so, which one???

[bergholt]

BTW, Loris, any idea if their watering hole The Prince of Prussia is a based on a real Fitzroy pub, and if so, which one???

i'm not loris, but i've always thought it's based on the north fitzroy arms on reid st.

[Stillwaiting]

The stupidity in this post is mind boggling. In 4 years time Gold Coast will be in the top 4 and will stay there for at least 5 years.

And you will be banned by then sunny boy jimbo!

sp, just but this troll tool on your ignore list.

[Dave McNamara]

BTW, Loris, any idea if their watering hole The Prince of Prussia is a based on a real Fitzroy pub, and if so, which one???

i'm not loris, but i've always thought it's based on the north fitzroy arms on reid st.

Thanks for that Bergholt. I would never have picked it, as The Prince in the novels is a bit of a dive. I've only ever been there once - heaps of Fitzroy FC memorabilia. I actually walk past on my to work... will have to have another look.

[loris]

BTW, Loris, any idea if their watering hole The Prince of Prussia is a based on a real Fitzroy pub, and if so, which one???

I too have wondered what pub it was based on ........... thought it might have been the "Yorkshire Stingo" if I can recall my knowledge of Fitzroy/Collingwood pubs of a few years back.

Then again it reminds me of "the Great Northern" in Nth Carlton from a few years ago. An old friend of mine Bob Stewart owned Gt Northern for a number of years. Frank Hardy used to drink their in his last few years, plus Dinny O'Hearn and also loads of ex-cops (Bob Stewart was an ex cop)
There used to be a group of old barflys that used to frequent the front bar who were old Fitzroy supporters, they came to the Great Northern as a 'watering hole' when Barron Ruthvern (ex Fitzroy brownlow meadalist) either died or sold his pub on Corner of Spencer St & Batman St West Melb (just a couple of streets up from LaTrobe st). They used to lament the moving of the 'roy boys to Queensland and couldn't follow the Brisbane Bears as they were then called..... can't recall them supporting the Saints tho...... but they hated the Blues and Demons.

Then when Bob sold the Gt Northern I think the new owners had started to gentrify it, but I do know that Peter Temple & Dinny O'Hearn used to drink at the Gt Northern occasionally. The Late Dinny O'Hearn was a professor of English at Melbourne University.

If you like a story about park cricket and pubs have a read of "Any Old Eleven" by Jim Young. It's about a cricket team that sprang from the public bar of Naughton's Hotel in Parkville................... had some very famous and infamous Melb identities put on the whites. A great read.

[stinger]

I'm glad we won. It was great to see Riewoldt kick his 500th. Some of the keys to our future - Steven, Newnes, Siposs, Armo - played well. Gwilt and Gilbert were better. It was nice to see Raph and Schneider back.

But the main thing I'm left feeling is a sense of embarrassment for the game I love. What is the point of this nonsense team? The confidence and career prospects of up to a dozen highly talented youngsters sacrificed on the altar of the AFL's psychotic dreams of world domination? 18 months on and the Suns are the most crappy, demoralized team imaginable. There seemed to be more Saints fans there tonight. Do the Suns have any fans? Why would they?

Every national sporting team set up on the Gold Coast has failed, or is struggling.

Waste of money, waste of time, waste of talent.

Embarrassing.......

good call....

[Enrico_Misso]

It is embarrassing that
1) the AFL wastes millions setting up new franchises from scratch then bends the rules (handouts, coverage etc.) to make sure they succeed
2) other teams like North, Footscray and Melbourne are struggling and doomed to failure in an overcrowded market
3) footy-mad heartland areas like Tasmania and the Northern Territory remain unrepresented

Explain the logic behind these three contradictions?

[Dave McNamara]

BTW, Loris, any idea if their watering hole The Prince of Prussia is a based on a real Fitzroy pub, and if so, which one???

I too have wondered what pub it was based on ........... Then again it reminds me of "the Great Northern" in Nth Carlton from a few years ago. An old friend of mine Bob Stewart owned Gt Northern for a number of years. Frank Hardy used to drink their in his last few years, plus Dinny O'Hearn and also loads of ex-cops (Bob Stewart was an ex cop) ...A great read.

Thanks for the history lesson Loris... a great read.

You sure have been around - and I mean that in a good way.

[Thinline]

Say what you will, but they have a significant proportion of their best out hurt and they are doing very little beyond using the competition as a training drill. The former I accept. The latter is unforgivable.

[plugger66]

It is embarrassing that
1) the AFL wastes millions setting up new franchises from scratch then bends the rules (handouts, coverage etc.) to make sure they succeed
2) other teams like North, Footscray and Melbourne are struggling and doomed to failure in an overcrowded market
3) footy-mad heartland areas like Tasmania and the Northern Territory remain unrepresented

Explain the logic behind these three contradictions?

North didnt want to move so unless they were forced it couldnt happen. Melbourne have more members than us and also have MCC members. WB obviously want to stay as well. These sides arent effected by sides interstate. They have been given millions already. NT will never have a side and neither they should. Bad place to play and wouldnt generate enough money. Tasmania will eventually get a relocated side when a Victorian side realises there time is up here. The new franchises have already generated plenty of money. Reports suggested the AFL would struggle to get anywhere near what they got for TV rights but they did and I would be sure the new sides have helped. As for knocking how they are going. Dont jump on that bandwagon to quickly. They will come good and it will happen quickly when it does happen. And of all clubs to whinge about how bad they I reckon we should just shut up. We didnt win a game until game 49.

[samuraisaint]

Yep, 1 in 49 and 3 in 100 (or something like that). But unless the Suns beat GWS in round 20 up there they will go close to closing in North's record winless streak of 35, and will almost certainly eclipse Sydney's of 26, set in the pre-Lockett era. Won't get near ours, as that would be two and a bit seasons without a win, and the Organisation would almost certainly step in before they let that happen. Can certainly see them winless this year though. Oddly enough they went better without Ablett in the side...
I am also interested in how we will go against GWS in round 22. GWS have been reasonably competitive in first halves of games this year, but I reckon in the second half of the year the long season will get to them and they will start to get flogged too.

[joffaboy]

It is embarrassing that
1) the AFL wastes millions setting up new franchises from scratch then bends the rules (handouts, coverage etc.) to make sure they succeed

Because AFL is a little provincial game played in the South and West of a country that has a population of only 22 million, with the majority of those people living in states that have the highest populations and the biggest population growth.

2) other teams like North, Footscray and Melbourne are struggling and doomed to failure in an overcrowded market

yes thats true, so where is the contradiction. We need less teams in Melbourne

3) footy-mad heartland areas like Tasmania and the Northern Territory remain unrepresented

400 people compared to 8 million in NSW and QLD.

The game must grow or die. Simple as that.

[SteveStevens66]

I'm glad we won. It was great to see Riewoldt kick his 500th. Some of the keys to our future - Steven, Newnes, Siposs, Armo - played well. Gwilt and Gilbert were better. It was nice to see Raph and Schneider back.

But the main thing I'm left feeling is a sense of embarrassment for the game I love. What is the point of this nonsense team? The confidence and career prospects of up to a dozen highly talented youngsters sacrificed on the altar of the AFL's psychotic dreams of world domination? 18 months on and the Suns are the most crappy, demoralized team imaginable. There seemed to be more Saints fans there tonight. Do the Suns have any fans? Why would they?

Every national sporting team set up on the Gold Coast has failed, or is struggling.

Waste of money, waste of time, waste of talent.

Embarrassing.......

Excellent post. Couldn't agree more. I would add that even if GWS are more successful on field that is also a "waste of money, waste of time, waste of talent." Those good young players could have gone into the existing 16 teams. GWS will be just like the Swans--another fake team that at the end of the day, no one but a tiny handful of people in Sydney care about. GWS will be an even bigger orphan--no matter what demographic statistics about that region's future that Fatty Andy pulls out of his rear end.

[vacuous space]

The confidence and career prospects of up to a dozen highly talented youngsters sacrificed on the altar of the AFL's psychotic dreams of world domination?

I'm not sure why the AFL is copping the blame. Scott Clayton was the architect of the Gold Coast mess. Most of the considerable assets they were handed were tradeable. They weren't forced to bring an uncompetitive list of infants into the league. They didn't have to get a rugby player. They didn't have to spend half their cap luring an introverted star from the league's best team. They didn't have to be the circus that they are. They are what they are because they chose to be that way. The blame rests with the guys who built the list. The league just gave them enough rope.

[Saint Bev]

It is an absolute joke. Qld is a rugby state and it doesn't matter how much money the AFL want to throw money in and kid themselves it is taking off, its not. The Lions are struggling, most of their original supporters have gone back to their old teams because they are fickle. Any why, did they bring in the GWS before the Gold Coast was established (even though it probably will never be). Did people see how many members there were the other night? Crowd attendances are very poor every week. Transport/parking is a joke. The best chance they had of a team making it here was North. They weren't interested, I understand why, but it was a massive mistake. Most people up here who follow footy are ex southerners who don't believe in manufactured sides. North had history and people were interested in them. Aside from all that we don't have the population. And Tassie has to be VERY careful of that also, even though they love their footy.

[SainterK]

Given that on footy classified tonight, we'd currently be 11th without GC and GWS, I welcome their inclusion