What's happening out West?

[Mug Punter]

"Those are fine and noble sentiments o_c, but the reality is that GWS is not a Sydney football club, rather a manufactured entity that has no history here, designed and paid for by the AFL, who don't care how much it costs them to keep afloat, so long as they fill a TV time slot."

That is a statement that could of been said about the Swans when they first lobbed into Sydney all those years ago.

A silly post.

The Swans have certainly had some issues but to compare their proud history pre the move to Sydney to GWS just illustrates you ignorance.

Unlike every other expansion team there was no community push for GWS it was an AFL HQ imposed entity upon a market that had no desire for its own team, especially as the people in that area who loved the game already had a team (the Swans)

Give them a dumb American name with an appalling jumper.

They then send their Muppet-In-Chief Sheedy up to insult all and sundry, make no efforts to engage with the local community and then, as their moist successful local club is on the verge of folding they announce a tie up with the Sydney club least likely to have any members attend a GWS game.

They are a TV deal team. They are just content.

I read an article where Canberra are looking at taking 4 of the 11 home games in 2016. That would be a start but I think Canberra deserves an AFL team and I think it would reinvigorate the game there because the local comp has been in decline for years now

[Mug Punter]

And if anyone needs any evidence how dismal a failure this mob is, have a look at the crowd tomorrow and try and guess how many GWS "fans" are there.

My early call is approximately 500...

[unconfuseme]

MP, it's an embarrassment that most of their member base is in Canberra, and they will only play 4 games there!

I found it interesting that they are the only club that shows A NET LOSS ON MEMBERSHIP REVENUE ... which means they WOULD be better off playing as the curtain raiser for the Quaker's Hill u/12's ... at least they would make a profit out of sausage sandwiches and soft drinks!

I had no issue with Sheedy's role - it was amongst the few things they have ever got right!

The simple thing that the ex-pats who could never cut it in the big time, but saw the back door opportunity to get a job in AFL have never come to grips with is, this is not Victoria ... either that or they have never had the balls to call out their mighty leaders south of the border on the fact.

If you do not engage and listen to the locals, they simply tell you to f*&^ off, and they go to another sport or activity, like soccer or golf or netball or tennis or whatever ... even Quidditch ... people who live outside of Victoria ARE aware of alternatives to AFL, and they DO recognise a poorly run organisation, and they WILL vote with their feet.

The only similarity between the GWS debacle and the Sydney Swans/South Melbourne debacle is that Victorians have overseen them - other than that, it's like comparing apples and oranges, as has already been eloquently covered.

[Norris Lurker]

I don't get it.
So Campbelltown lose some key personnel from their Premier Div team.
I'll assume half of the team.
Surely half of a premier div team combined with half a div 4 team would be competitive in div 1 or at worst div 2.
But div 4? Why don't Campbelltown just sign releases for every good player they have. Only the die hard premier div players would stay around for div 4. They may have had a chance if they chose div 1. Div 2 definitely needs more teams.
How many years will it take the once mighty Blues to get back to Premier Div even under optimistic circumstances? 10 years? Not good

If there'd been an odd number of teams in any of Divs 1-3, they may have been able to slot in there. But to put them into one of those divisions would have involved re-doing the draw for that division with a couple of days to do it.
As it turned out, they won their opening round game in Div 4 by a point - maybe that's the right level for their remaining players.

[King Zog]

Their U/19's got on the park today too, which is great news.
I was at Monarch to watch that game and their boys played well.
The Manager told me the numbers are still fragile with their 18th player signing up and running out on the park today.
Even with an extra player on the field for the whole game and a bench they were not good enough to win, but it was great to see a contest at Monarch.

[Mug Punter]

Their U/19's got on the park today too, which is great news.
I was at Monarch to watch that game and their boys played well.
The Manager told me the numbers are still fragile with their 18th player signing up and running out on the park today.
Even with an extra player on the field for the whole game and a bench they were not good enough to win, but it was great to see a contest at Monarch.

Great News!!

[Mug Punter]

MP, it's an embarrassment that most of their member base is in Canberra, and they will only play 4 games there!

I found it interesting that they are the only club that shows A NET LOSS ON MEMBERSHIP REVENUE ... which means they WOULD be better off playing as the curtain raiser for the Quaker's Hill u/12's ... at least they would make a profit out of sausage sandwiches and soft drinks!

I had no issue with Sheedy's role - it was amongst the few things they have ever got right!

The simple thing that the ex-pats who could never cut it in the big time, but saw the back door opportunity to get a job in AFL have never come to grips with is, this is not Victoria ... either that or they have never had the balls to call out their mighty leaders south of the border on the fact.

If you do not engage and listen to the locals, they simply tell you to f*&^ off, and they go to another sport or activity, like soccer or golf or netball or tennis or whatever ... even Quidditch ... people who live outside of Victoria ARE aware of alternatives to AFL, and they DO recognise a poorly run organisation, and they WILL vote with their feet.

The only similarity between the GWS debacle and the Sydney Swans/South Melbourne debacle is that Victorians have overseen them - other than that, it's like comparing apples and oranges, as has already been eloquently covered.

Time will tell re GWS and I believe it will test the mettle of the AFL leadership like no other issue which will be interesting given the weakness of the current CEO.

They will be in life support financially for AT LEAST 20 years. Football wise they could be winning a flag in 3-5, I genuinely believe that playing group that SOS put together is the richest in terms of talent in the league.

If we thought Eddie was bad re the Swans how do you think he will be when a club that is being funded $15-20M wins the comp, along with all their concessions, with no fans?

I think GWS' initial appeal to the likes of Eddie was that it would weaken the Swans. It has not had that effect at all, it has galvanised the Swans and taken us back to our roots (e.g. all games back at SCG) and if anything it has made us stronger.

It also delivered us the Academy and the associated priority picks which, despite the changes proposed, deliver us advantages that I still think short sighted muppets like Eddie fail to see.

So, whilst they are flawed and a joke I do not hold them responsible for that. And I think we actually benefit from having them in town, if only so that the AFL cannot punitively punish us for success going forward.

And I'm going to love it as the penny drops that these kids are going to win a flag and the reaction

[water boy]

What happened to Ctowns div 4 yesterday?

[Matt80]

If Football is struggling in the West then it's thriving in the Eastern Suburbs.

What an impact the UTS Bats have made. The PM even drinks with them!

http://m.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/prime-minister-tony-abbott-caught-on-video-skolling-beer-in-sydney-pub/story-fni0cx12-1227309893517?sv=49760e8226e25422898152a877996d96

[Coastal Boy]

If there is one thing I've learnt is that poor geography is not necessarily a reason for failure. There are many examples where a club flounders whilst there nearest rivals flourish. Think of: Easts(early 00s) vs UTS(2011)and Randwick(current), Wests and Balmain(00s) vs Syd Uni(late 00s), Parramatta(mid 90s) vs ECE(late 90s), Norwest(2013) Vs Blacktown(2013), Gosford(2013)vs Terrigal(2014 - home ground in East Gosford). Now add Campbelltown vs SWE and Camden.

Sure you can argue the rise of one may be a direct cause of the demise of the other. But it's s chicken vs egg scenario. Whilst I don't have an opinion on here whether mismanagement is to blame in any of these cases, there must be factors at work here.

[justabaraker]

on the subject of the Mad Monk sculling with UTS Bats....
How "Eastern Suburbs" is it to drink Shandies with double lemonade?
If that's the impression that Sydneysiders get of local AFL players then our game is NEVER going to cut through in the outer western 'burbs !

[The Runt]

[QUOTE=Mug Punter;667921]A silly post.
"Unlike every other expansion team there was no community push for GWS it was an AFL HQ imposed entity upon a market that had no desire for its own team, especially as the people in that area who loved the game already had a team (the Swans)

They are a TV deal team. They are just content."

Again same statements could of been made about the Swans all those years ago, let GWS build then we just maybe can see some pretty special rivalry happening like Adelaide and Perth. And speaking of silly posts pot kettle.

[unconfuseme]

Sorry, just because you say it twice, doesn't mean it's so.

... of course there will be some kind of similarities, but really, two scenarios that could hardly be more different.

The Swans STILL have more South Melbourne Members than GWS have members today, and probably always will ...