Leigh Matthews calls for only one team in SE Qld.

[Simbatheking21]

Can't see myself supporting a "Brisbane Suns" or "Gold Coast lions"

Being a mad Fitzroy fan it was hard for me to see them called the Brisbane Lions but I stuck with it and love the Brisbane Lions... Don't think I've got it in me to be the Gold Coast lions or Brisbane Suns

My opinion of course

 

[CarterS]

One thing that must not be forgotten is that a genuine argument could be made against the viability of the Gold Coast Titans NRL Team as well.

In 2015 the Suns average home crowd was higher than the Titans', which is nothing to sneeze at.

Anyone who has paid attention long enough will know that even Rugby League has struggled to get a foothold in the Gold Coast. They have gone through more teams than I have cheap boots and the current team, the Titans are a financial disaster and the NRL had to take them over. The A-League club down there had to be wound up too, it is just very tough ground for a sports team to get a foothold in for any number of reasons that have been speculated over and over throughout the years.

 

[Old Den]

I am in the same boat. I will not support a team named the Suns.

Maybe Leigh said for strategic purposes? The only game we have won was against GC. We were relentless that night... As opposed to the shit we dished up against port. Maybe by bringing this up it'll spark something in the lions.... They'll remember that sickening crunch on Martin and the hatred for our rivals. The boys might look at this game as an absolute must win at any cost and go out there and maul Collingwood.....otherwise we might hav to merge with the enemy.

The Sun is a star but close up and stars are suns but far away. - Carl Sagan.

Viability statements are never as short sighted as they may seem - especially when made by someone who knows the territory inside out with almost 20 years of involvement close up.

 

[bomberjez]

"(Matthews') statement doesn't look at the long-term view, what I call the 'Japanese view of life'."

 

[Redeye Rambler]

Talk of the sun's demise or merging is complete nonsense. Lethal is highlighting that we are a frontier club trading in a small market. A market that has recently been split in half to accommodate the afl expansion

 

[Bucking Beads]

Lethal is just making it clear that AFL in QLD needs help. Just another nudge to the AFL that we are in strife and that our academies shouldn't be touched.

 

[Roylion]

Agree with a few here, that a 'merger' between the Suns and the Lions is most unlikely. The short term damage of such a move to the game in Queensland would be significant. In any case, from a Melbourne based perspective, I certainly wouldn't be supporting the Brisbane Suns or the Gold Coast Lions.

 

[jackess]

Relocate the Suns to Tasmania?

 

[Back2Back2Back]

Yeah I think the words between Leigh's lines isn't that there should be a merge - it's that the current AFL support for the QLD market is abysmal, and under this regime only one club will survive. It's supposed to get the reaction from the Suns management and get some real discussion from the AFL.

The fact that they came to just one of our games last year speaks volumes for the level of support they are giving our market at the moment. Leigh has recognised that we need to get some headlines going with sensational claims to get journos seeking comment from the AFL.

 

[brizrider]

Yeah I think the words between Leigh's lines isn't that there should be a merge - it's that the current AFL support for the QLD market is abysmal, and under this regime only one club will survive. It's supposed to get the reaction from the Suns management and get some real discussion from the AFL.

The fact that they came to just one of our games last year speaks volumes for the level of support they are giving our market at the moment. Leigh has recognised that we need to get some headlines going with sensational claims to get journos seeking comment from the AFL.

Agree. We lost some players and access to draft picks when they were created which hurt us but apart from that there's no real impact on us if the Suns exist or not. We haven't lost fans or sponsors or anything to them and probably wouldn't pick anything extra up if they did fold.

 

[Eons]

Relocate the Suns to Tasmania?

Most logical post in this thread (I haven't read any other posts so this may be completely false). Makes perfect sense.

 

[Eons]

Agree. We lost some players and access to draft picks when they were created which hurt us but apart from that there's no real impact on us if the Suns exist or not. We haven't lost fans or sponsors or anything to them and probably wouldn't pick anything extra up if they did fold.

I would assume there's a fair few Suns supporters who once followed Brisbane.

 

[Dylan12]

The trouble I find is that the NRL has such a financial backing up this way. With News Corp funding the Broncos directly there is no way they will ever be bad multiple seasons in a row. Their rebuilds are a minor blip on their next season of playing finals. They then dedicate page after page of trivial journalism tripe to that team before having one or two quarter page articles about AFL in general, let alone the two local teams.

Reads awfully similar to the Victorian media's obsession with Collingwood.

 

[brizrider]

I would assume there's a fair few Suns supporters who once followed Brisbane.

Maybe, and I think most people do assume that but I don't see much proof. I'm sure we lost a little but our attendance figures didn't change much after they came in and if they did it could probably be explained by some declining performance in that period. Our membership numbers did drop so it could be there. I suspect (again without any real proof) that apart from people who were newly drawn to footy a lot of their fans/members probably came from those who were into footy and living on the Gold Coast but maybe following a Melbourne team. This was the case for a lot of Bears fans at team creation.

 

[M Malice]

I would assume there's a fair few Suns supporters who once followed Brisbane.

yes i know around a dozen who have jumped ship, the bulk of them gradually over the suns existence.

 

[KissKiss]

I know Leigh is just trying to drum up more support for Qld footy and that is needed but like Roylion and Simbatheking21, being from the Fitzroy side of the family I find it a little "distasteful" as an idea

 

[Len S]

I know Leigh is just trying to drum up more support for Qld footy and that is needed but like Roylion and Simbatheking21, being from the Fitzroy side of the family I find it a little "distasteful" as an idea

Gold Coast has a dreadful history of failure as far as sporting teams go, a bridge and a half too far everytime.

 

[WhiteLionFeva]

I developed a strong distaste for the Suns when McKenna came out with "we are still trying to clean up the mess the Bears created when they were here".

He'd be an expert on leaving messes for others to clean up.

 

[KissKiss]

Gold Coast has a dreadful history of failure as far as sporting teams go, a bridge and a half too far everytime.

I get that and I see why the AFL should try keep pushing into QLD in the long term. I just don't think I could go through another merger. Despite all the issues being away from the club they still try to do well by the Melbourne connection, but I dont want to feel even further diluted.

 

[MacMum]

What a bloody debacle it is turning out to be! God help us.

 

[adey115]

Lethal is a smart man. A smart operator, and a smart media operator at that.

He knows that the AFL are salivating at the success that GWS is starting to have because it means that there investment won't need to be topped up as much as it would be if they were failing - the AFL will not back down from GWS. They simply wouldn't let the embarrassment of failure happen.
Conversely he knows that the AFL is going to have to spend further funds on cementing the GC, because they're simply not having success and have turned into a complete rabble. The AFL will not back down from the GC either, for the same reason.

The AFL do no like failure. Period.

I think Lethal can see that the AFL will come into the GC and fund fund fund until they have success. And where does that leave us? That leaves us with our crap facilities, without financial assistance, and likely without on-field success.

These comments from him are as much about us as anything. Yes he's reminding them the market is relatively 'small'. But he's reminding them that if the AFL is going to spend money on the GC to prop them up, then there is no use leaving us to wither on the vine as well. We need the financial assistance as well if they want to have two teams in SE QLD.

And boy, do they want two teams. They alternative to two teams, is having to admit that you've failed.

 

[SRH17]

What a response from Suns chairman Cochrane, that Leigh doesn't really know what he is talking about and the market is big enough for both. This from the man whose last gig was running V8 Supercars, which until his departure restricted your ability to compete unless you had a Ford or a Holden.
Priceless- think I will trust the judgement of a legend of the game.

 

[MacMum]

What worries me (and this may not be popular) is that I believe the GC is the correct place of the two to have a team.....would be more aussie rules teams on GC than in Brissy......then there are the families/off-spring of AFL followers who have moved there in years past.

More likely to get supporters coming up for weekend packages ..... more to do on the coast, plus see their team play. If any sport is to succeed on the GC I think the Suns are the ones to do it....eventually

...with that belief, what Leigh has come out with concerns me a lot. Where that leaves us I have no idea, but someone better come up with some answers soon or we are in even deeper doo doos

 

[Skoob]

Leigh has come out with some less than helpful comments over the last couple of years and I worry about how these latest comments will be perceived by the AFL. He may well be right, but the AFL would be very proud (even if they know it mightn't work) of their manufactured club. An expansion club that they have invested so much in, won't be going anywhere.
Following comments that "we almost handed back the keys" and matters the AFL is well aware of, one could think that Brisbane is a waste of time and money. In their eyes, the Bears was a failure, we got a merger with Fitzroy (another failed club, whatever the reasons) and as soon as the perks dropped off, the Lions turned to shit and has been since. Now an admission that this state can't support two of us.
I don't know, but if a club being sponsored by HQ keeps putting its hand up, saying "we can't survive", there may well come a time that the AFL thinks it best they put us out of our misery.
Sometimes I think Leigh can be counter productive. Without recalling specific examples, I have cringed at some of his thoughts on rules and approaches to the game in general and the less than helpful "Brisbane doesn't need or deserve a priority pick". Stating that the Queensland market can't support 2 clubs may be correct, but if the AFL address that issue, we may find that the Lions aren't first pick if they decide to keep just one club.

 

[PertRoosOsborne]

Paddlepop Suns