GWS Discussion Thread

[Wardy]

The sell-out to Canberra was a complete disgrace (not that I give a rat's). The amount of taxpayer money being wasted at Homebush where we already have an AFL venue, is a disgrace.

When this exercise totally hits the skids in season 3 or 4 I could quite easilly see a permanent re-location and branding to Canberra. That actually makes sense as the local ACTAFL has been stagnating for years down there with the Brumbies and Raiders dominating the market. Plus they have a huge genuine catchment area from the Riverina.

I'm quite sad that you want something, especially the game you allegedly love, to fail so spectacularly. Sure it could have been done differently and Tassie should have had a team first, but it hasn't, so you just deal with it.

Its beyond anyones control and I doubt the local councils involved would have taken it on if they didnt see the potential for growth and have the backing by the extremely cashed up AFL. It is after all a business. A business that provides entertainment to many and also great joy one team out of the 17 (soon to be 18) and its supporters on last weekend of the season each year.

The two teams can co-exist in Sydney its just going to take time. just like the AFL & the NRL can co-exist in Sydney (despite the crap written in the Daliy telegraph) It took years, but we are still here!!!

I'm looking forward to senior footy being on offer every weekend in Sydney.

You have the choice on whether you join the club, attend or not to have anything to do with it, its not going to harm anyone.

[Mug Punter]

I'm quite sad that you want something, especially the game you allegedly love, to fail so spectacularly. Sure it could have been done differently and Tassie should have had a team first, but it hasn't, so you just deal with it.

Its beyond anyones control and I doubt the local councils involved would have taken it on if they didnt see the potential for growth and have the backing by the extremely cashed up AFL. It is after all a business. A business that provides entertainment to many and also great joy one team out of the 17 (soon to be 18) and its supporters on last weekend of the season each year.

The two teams can co-exist in Sydney its just going to take time. just like the AFL & the NRL can co-exist in Sydney (despite the crap written in the Daliy telegraph) It took years, but we are still here!!!

I'm looking forward to senior footy being on offer every weekend in Sydney.

You have the choice on whether you join the club, attend or not to have anything to do with it, its not going to harm anyone.

As Roosy has stated, the risk with this gamble, and it is a gamble, is that the AFL will have two weak teams in Sydney.

It's not about me wanting them to fail I just think they have totally under-estimated the job at hand and I think they have gone about this entire exercise in the wrong way. Sure they will get some good young kids (who will head home after 2-3 years at that joke of a club) and sure they will pick up some mercenaries but how can anyone seeing that team get absolutely belted by the Bullants in the Foxtel Cup today see them being ready.

They'll get 10,000 - 15,000 for their first game and my prediction is they will plateau at crowds of about 7,500 for the rest of the season.

Time will tell whether the AFL have the stomach to make this work in the long run because make no mistake about it, the Melbourne media will have an absolute feeding frenzy on the Bogans the way they are shaping up.

[OtherTeamCanada]

In any North American professional sport it's a given that expansion teams will get flogged for 5+ years before they even get a sniff of the playoffs. I like the breaks that the AFL gives the new teams to be competitive sooner but it's not a guarantee. Expansion teams are a long term positive addition to the AFL as a whole so if it takes 5 years or 10 years for them to be competitive then so be it.

The expectation of being a competitive side in year 1 or 2 is unrealistic. Local fans should just be excited that they have a team to call their own and that should last them for a few years.

[top40]

With 5,000 members in the ACT GWS are looking good in Canberra. And they marketed very well at the Bulldogs-Swans games at Manuka. Their aim is to promote an informal merger with the Eastlakes Social Club, (round the block from Manuka), so fans will be involved in pre and post game events in Canberra.

Canberra is too small for a 100% relocation, however if they keep up the good work in the nation's capital it will be a very helpful buffer for any teething problems in Western Sydney. I predict that in 2012 the Giants will play:

3 times at ANZ (against the Swans, the Pies and another top Victorian team)
7 times at the Sydney Showground
3 times at Manuka (one home and two away games)

[R-1]

I dunno, there's a lot of money at Ainslie, Belco and Eastlake through their ownership of clubs. By some accounts Ainslie are the 2nd richest club outside of the AFL (after Southport, though surely Centrals are bigger), and the Canberra-Queenbeyan area has a population of 350K, not far short of Gold Coast-Tweed at 450K.

I reckon between them, the local clubs could support an AFL side a bit like Southport helped drive the Gold Coast bid. Lotsa expats through the public service, plentiful ACT govt money available to sport... if North and Port are viable, then I don't think it's a stretch that Canberra could be.

[jono2707]

In any North American professional sport it's a given that expansion teams will get flogged for 5+ years before they even get a sniff of the playoffs. I like the breaks that the AFL gives the new teams to be competitive sooner but it's not a guarantee. Expansion teams are a long term positive addition to the AFL as a whole so if it takes 5 years or 10 years for them to be competitive then so be it.

The expectation of being a competitive side in year 1 or 2 is unrealistic. Local fans should just be excited that they have a team to call their own and that should last them for a few years.

Good point but in North American sport you normally have cities pushing ultra-hard for expansion franchises which generally have a large tide of local public (and corporate) support behind them. I just don't see this occurring here with GWS - it is more the AFL thinking that they can force so much money into this move that people in Sydney will eventually roll over. The AFL have grossly underestimated the effort required to do this and I agree with the fear expressed by Mug above that we'll end up with two weak teams here in Sydney.

[R-1]

GWS is an area of 2 million people. It's a tenth of the country. The AFL really only needs 2% of that for a viable team, some as members, the rest as supporters. Throw in the ACT angle and that's a nice buffer.

They're targetting the youth hard, and planning for crowds of around 15K, which is very doable. It's not as insurmountable a task as it perhaps seems.