This'll Fire Up A Healthy Debate

[Pekay]

Was browsing through big footy today when i came across this, made for some interesting reading.
AFL ponders east coast league - News - realfooty.com.au
Not really a realistic idea given current financial situations, but worth a read nonetheless.

[Norris Lurker]

It's a nice idea, but I can't see how it could work. The travel time and expense would be prohibitive. And I could imagine the fun and games that would be involved with selecting which Sydney clubs would be part of such a league.....

Some form of competition may be workable on an occasional basis, but not as a weekly league. Maybe some form of FA Cup style knockout competition, where the top 2 from Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane and somewhere else qualify for sudden-death games. And the rest of the season, the clubs would remain in their normal leagues, retaining their traditions and local rivalries.

[cos789]

Money is everything but also you need a decent standard to make this worthwhile . I's say that it'd start out as rep teams - 3 teams one each from NSW, QLD and ACT .That's a "home and away season" of 4 games .
Extend the current season by 4 weeks to accomodate 4 breaks for these games and allow for some promotion & support.

[Rowdy#8]

Money is everything but also you need a decent standard to make this worthwhile . I's say that it'd start out as rep teams - 3 teams one each from NSW, QLD and ACT .That's a "home and away season" of 4 games .
Extend the current season by 4 weeks to accomodate 4 breaks for these games and allow for some promotion & support.

Some form of competition may be workable on an occasional basis, but not as a weekly league. Maybe some form of FA Cup style knockout competition, where the top 2 from Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane and somewhere else qualify for sudden-death games. And the rest of the season, the clubs would remain in their normal leagues, retaining their traditions and local rivalries.

Both credible ideas, but they do not cover one of the key objectives of the proposed league, ie giving AFL reserve players from the northern state clubs a better standard comp to play in - to achieve this you'd need a comp that would span the length of the AFL season.

I can see what they're trying to achieve, but like the second Sydney AFL team, I think its just too ambitious in the short term.

[The Rooster]

so will it become a state comp... with nsw teams as feeder clubs to represent... with nt queensland wa sa and vic could strenghten footy oz wide

[cos789]

In the meantime , instead of doing nothing they should divide the Swan's Reserves in two and send two teams down to Canberra providing a greater challenge to Sydney and a better comp to canberra .

[goswannie14]

In the meantime , instead of doing nothing they should divide the Swan's Reserves in two and send two teams down to Canberra providing a greater challenge to Sydney and a better comp to canberra .

That would do nothing for the Swans whatsoever.

[Norris Lurker]

In the meantime , instead of doing nothing they should divide the Swan's Reserves in two and send two teams down to Canberra providing a greater challenge to Sydney and a better comp to canberra .

I don't think the Swans have enough players on their list to field two reserves teams. They'd be plundering the local junior leagues to get top-up players.

[cos789]

I don't think the Swans have enough players on their list to field two reserves teams. They'd be plundering the local junior leagues to get top-up players.

Agreed . I'm suggesting two teams ,not neccessarily two Swans reserves teams .I'm suggesting in the absense of any else it would be better to be playing against more competitive teams .Indeed probably only a small gain but a much bigger gain for the comp , a comp that is group along with NSW .
Isn't Western Sydney getting a team ?Wouldn't it be advantageous to start the nucleus of that team now .I know that part is out of the Swans hands but anything that raises the profile of Australian Football in Sydney even by small amounts is worthwhile .