AFL announces 18 teams by 2012

[ttufc7]

AFL has announced plans for 2 more teams

One in the gold coast by 2011 (obviously)
And another in Western Sydney in 2012

[saintdooley]

AFL has announced plans for 2 more teams

One in the gold coast by 2011 (obviously)
And another in Western Sydney in 2012

western sydney?
i would like to see what happens when sydney vs west sydney!

[ttufc7]

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,865 ... 11,00.html

When I first heard it i thought the West Sydney team idea had been just thrown out there without any real thought put into any specific details but by the looks of it the AFL have already well and truely come up with their plan of attack

[Enrico_Misso]

It just doesn't make sense.
More teams will make the draw even more lopsided.
And a Premiership just gets harder and harder.

Would only make sense if they relocated North and Bulldogs.

[aussierules0k]

[Oh When the Saints]

Footy inflation gone mad. Devaluation of existing clubs. Watering down the brew.

100% spot on.

Bad move.

[cwrcyn]

Andy's been eating the stupid pills again

[Life Long Saint]

It just doesn't make sense.
More teams will make the draw even more lopsided.
And a Premiership just gets harder and harder.

Would only make sense if they relocated North and Bulldogs.

Draw could be solved by doing the following:

- Scrap the NAB cup
- Extend the season to 25 rounds
- Split the 18 teams into two conferences of nine teams
- You play teams in your own conference twice and teams in the other conference once. (alternating H&A each season - important)
- Top four teams in each conference go to the finals.
- Win/Loss and percentage determines starting position in finals and the current finals system is played...This is crucial to ensure the two best teams play in the Grand Final.
- Win/Loss and percentage determines draft order.

[karnak]

too many teams not enough talent,

the general spectacle of the game goes down.

think about it, effectively means another 80 players existing in vfl etc would now be in the AFL.

That's 80 guys who aren't good enough now.

Maybe Brooks could be their captain?\

[brown-coat]

AFL may as well start to dominate NSW.

Everyone knows rugby league is a crap sport. It's 1-dimensional, it's a square pitch, it's big idiots running into eachother. It's now a TV sport in NSW. Crowds are abysmal. The players are all rapist, criminals, idiot, brainless thugs. The sport is dieing and Sydney people have no appreciation of sport culture.

Melbourne is the sporting capital of planet earth because of the extreme appreciation for the culture.

Sydney people are too busy being vain assholes to care about rugby league. They will only go if David Beckham is playing, or there is some asshole Richard Wilkins Russle Crowe type special promotion.

Western Sydney is basically an immigration port. Put an AFL team in the heart of it, put a 40,000 capacity stadium there, make ticket prices cheap to attract the immigrants and you will have success.

too many teams not enough talent,

the general spectacle of the game goes down.

think about it, effectively means another 80 players existing in vfl etc would now be in the AFL.

That's 80 guys who aren't good enough now.

Maybe Brooks could be their captain?\

Arguably. But if you start to dominate Sydney at junior level you will get many more superstars coming through the ranks.

[Dan Warna]

Andy's been eating the stupid pills again

OMG he was a dumbass in the first place, adding further stupidity is like letting donald rumsfeld tell george bush how to run a war...

[iceman]

Andy D has made it clear he wants to expand, he has tried to convince Melb. based teams to relocate, as that would be the easiest way about it, they refused and now he is going to go hammer and tong to create his idea of the AFL.

Unfortunately things don't look great for Vic clubs, slowly funding will become rare and they will be required to prop themselves up more while money is thrown at new teams, the more teams that enter, the less safe Vic teams will become.

[bigcarl]

a really dumb idea.

will just make it harder for clubs like us to win a premiership and even survive.

it is the kangaroos' fault.

they are not viable. they cannot survive financially in melbourne.

they should have taken the gold coast option.

16 teams is already too many. i'd rather see melbourne clubs relocated that just bring more teams in

[meher baba]

It gives me the Edgar Britts the way that the AFL wants to promote the game in an area that has just about zero football culture (Western Sydney), but passes over areas with genuine football culture such as Canberra and Tasmania.

I realise that its all about marketing, and that Western Sydney is the home of several million folks to whom sponsors and advertisers might wish to market stuff. But I think it's a highly risky venture: my understanding is that most of the support base for the Swans comes from among migrants from Vic, Tas, SA and WA who inhabit the eastern and northern suburbs.

I doubt that there is anything like the support base of interstate migrants among the Westies, as opposed to vast swathes of Asian, Middle Eastern, Southern European and Pacific migrants and Australian-born bogans who already follow soccer, union, league or nothing at all.

And I support the other comments about the AFL diluting the quality of the brand.

[SaintBot]

they say 18 teams is the plan...but they will happily watch as the kangaroos, bulldogs, etc fold from the competition

[TwoTowers]

I think its a good idea and inevitable. The draw can made fairer as in the example given by Lifelong Saint. Although it is tough on supporters, the struggling Melburne clubs can relocate. The reason they are struggling is that they cannot get enough supporters and sponsorship. Its not because they can't get decent players. Plenty of quality kids now miss out every year because of the draft and salary cap. There are plenty of good footballers out there to field 18 teams. Not to mention the obvious: Australia's second largest city supports 9 of the 16 clubs in a national competition.

[esaint66]

AFL has announced plans for 2 more teams

One in the gold coast by 2011 (obviously)
And another in Western Sydney in 2012

western sydney?
i would like to see what happens when sydney vs west sydney!

it would turn into a rugby league game west tigers v the roosters

[mad saint guy]

they say 18 teams is the plan...but they will happily watch as the kangaroos, bulldogs, etc fold from the competition

Exactly. By 2015 there may be new teams on the GC and WS, but there will only be 16 teams. The Kangaroos and Bullogs are already struggling, and even more competition will kill them (not to say that new teams will have much success either).

Hopefully Demetriou and Anderson get the sack before they can do any more damage to the game, because I am seriously worried for the code's future.

[St Fidelius]

they say 18 teams is the plan...but they will happily watch as the kangaroos, bulldogs, etc fold from the competition

Exactly. By 2015 there may be new teams on the GC and WS, but there will only be 16 teams. The Kangaroos and Bullogs are already struggling, and even more competition will kill them (not to say that new teams will have much success either).

Hopefully Demetriou and Anderson get the sack before they can do any more damage to the game, because I am seriously worried for the code's future.

Yep I hope he gets the flick soon, but really it's not just the kangaroos and bulldogs IMO...

I do think that Melbourne is also in the mix

[Batnoe]

a lot can happen in 7 or 8 years

what would happen if one of the top clubs didnt win another game and did a carlton?

i mean, one of hawthorne, saints, richmond, carlton, essendon, geelong collingwood

it costs a lot of money to lose games and get no members

we were seriously on verge in the early 90's if you remember the SOS?

the only way you can stay in the black is win flags, win games, get members, get bum on seats, that then starts back at winning games

if you lose, the team could go backwards, we were lucky from 03 onwards we won some games, we could be in that position now, the talk that bulldogs and saints were gonna merge was scary, we're just lucky that we won games after that

Although i love AFL and want it to be Aus wide, i like it the way it has been, i guess when it grew from 12 teams and then to 14 teams people were saying the same thing, no we cant handle this for the game -yet it has been fine.

There are more Australians than there were back then and if they did an average per team and how many people barrack per team it might be the same amount per capita

that means that Australia in general can handle more teams, but Melbourne can't

Me being an interstater really wants the game to grow, but it is now the Australian game (AFL) not the Victorian game, the more teams there are outside Australia the better is

Obviously i am a Saints fan and i want premierships, but how much better will it be to win the comp with 18 teams than 16????

[borderbarry]

I have no real objection to two new clubs, but I dont believe one is warranted in Sydney. I would rather see a third club in Adelaide. They have tremendous support for the 2 clubs they have, and a third, based on Gelelg or Norwood or whoever, would be strong, and just might water down the strength of the other two clubs.

[esaint66]

i'd like to obviously see a team on the gold coast. as for the other on i would like to see a permanent team in tasmania or one in darwin.

[riccardo]

Sydney people are too busy being vain assholes to care about rugby league. They will only go if David Beckham is playing, would now be in the AFL.

You made alot of comments about League thast you have no right to make, but this one takes the cake.

Beckham plays SOCCER, not Rugby.

Why bother answering the rest of your rules-defying post when this says it all: don't get on your high horse over a sport it is glaring obvious you are ignorant about.

[Scottish Saint]

I have no real objection to two new clubs, but I dont believe one is warranted in Sydney. I would rather see a third club in Adelaide. They have tremendous support for the 2 clubs they have, and a third, based on Gelelg or Norwood or whoever, would be strong, and just might water down the strength of the other two clubs.

Port Adelaide's crowds are actually quite poor. A third team in Perth would make more sense especially as Perth is much bigger and growing fast.

[esaint66]

I have no real objection to two new clubs, but I dont believe one is warranted in Sydney. I would rather see a third club in Adelaide. They have tremendous support for the 2 clubs they have, and a third, based on Gelelg or Norwood or whoever, would be strong, and just might water down the strength of the other two clubs.

Port Adelaide's crowds are actually quite poor. A third team in Perth would make more sense especially as Perth is much bigger and growing fast.

yeh one of the age trivia questions today was who had the lowest crowds on average last year and guess what it was the power. and thats not good if your team made the grand final.

so you couldnt possibly have another team there and anyway its about moving into new areas and i think it will be a succsess if the afl moves in to tassie or darwin.