Rear Admiral
Club Legend
I'm a Crows supporter, and the reason I'm making a comment here is not to dish out cr*p to Brisbane Lions supporters - not at all. Not meaning to offend anyone at all.
From an outsider's perspective, in my opinion the reason Brisbane are struggling at the moment is clearly the result of Vlad Demtriou's decision to introduce the two expansion teams into the AFL:
Greater Western Sydney and Goldcoast
Given the opportunity, I would like to have Vlad dragged back to Australia by his ankles and face the AFL media as to why the teams at the bottom of the ladder are being repeatedly belted. While many people may argue, I'm of the opinion that there just isn't enough elite talent to fill 18 Clubs. Added to that, QLD is a predominantly NRL state, where most players want to head south. The answer to this problem is simple:
Either reduce the number of clubs, or bring about forced trading. One or the other.
Since nobody wants to choose option 1, then option 2 is the only viable option. If that doesn't happen, it's only a matter of time until some of the less successful clubs either fold or merge, and that is devastating for supporters. At the moment, most AFL players want to make a beeline for just a handful of clubs, where the rest are just making up the numbers.
What I can't understand is why many of the struggling clubs don't get on board with what Damien Hardwick proposed below and present a united case to the AFL. What Hardwick says describes these issues perfectly:
Now that Free Trading has been brought about, the clubs have every right to present this case to the AFL. Instead, what we're seeing is more and more coaches of struggling clubs being hired-and-fired like a revolving door, when they're mostly powerless to retain their best talent. I want the AFL to reach a stage where there's barely one or two wins separating the top side from the bottom side, where every game is a cliffhanger. What we're getting now is the absolute opposite.
From an outsider's perspective, in my opinion the reason Brisbane are struggling at the moment is clearly the result of Vlad Demtriou's decision to introduce the two expansion teams into the AFL:
Greater Western Sydney and Goldcoast
Given the opportunity, I would like to have Vlad dragged back to Australia by his ankles and face the AFL media as to why the teams at the bottom of the ladder are being repeatedly belted. While many people may argue, I'm of the opinion that there just isn't enough elite talent to fill 18 Clubs. Added to that, QLD is a predominantly NRL state, where most players want to head south. The answer to this problem is simple:
Either reduce the number of clubs, or bring about forced trading. One or the other.
Since nobody wants to choose option 1, then option 2 is the only viable option. If that doesn't happen, it's only a matter of time until some of the less successful clubs either fold or merge, and that is devastating for supporters. At the moment, most AFL players want to make a beeline for just a handful of clubs, where the rest are just making up the numbers.
What I can't understand is why many of the struggling clubs don't get on board with what Damien Hardwick proposed below and present a united case to the AFL. What Hardwick says describes these issues perfectly:
Now that Free Trading has been brought about, the clubs have every right to present this case to the AFL. Instead, what we're seeing is more and more coaches of struggling clubs being hired-and-fired like a revolving door, when they're mostly powerless to retain their best talent. I want the AFL to reach a stage where there's barely one or two wins separating the top side from the bottom side, where every game is a cliffhanger. What we're getting now is the absolute opposite.