Leigh Matthews calls for only one team in SE Qld.

[M Malice]

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-05-09/no-demand-for-two-teams

pretty inflammatory by leigh but he has never been one to hold back on giving it to the AFL, glad he is on our side.

is never going to happen ie. the suns folding. although wouldn't it be great if we had priority access to their players when they are disbanded.

lions ins- tom lynch, sam may, arron hall, adam saad, rory thompson.

 

[SRH17]

Yes it wont happen, purely through the media rights being contingent on having an 18 team competition, but Leigh is spot on. There is simply not the interest in the code in South East Queensland to support two teams within 100 km of each other. Even the game against Port the other night was a poor crowd - this is in a traditional football state.
All that has happened with the introduction of the Suns is a fracturing of the supporter base and degradation of our playing list by years of compromised drafts. I have always held the view that plays out of the Gold Coast will never be successful - Bears, Rollers, some crowd that Wally Lewis played for at some stage.
Gil, have a look at the average crowd that the two teams are pulling - oops sorry that doesn't matter because it is all about TV.

 

[MSB ROYS]

Smart man that Leigh Matthews.

 

[M Malice]

Yes it wont happen, purely through the media rights being contingent on having an 18 team competition, but Leigh is spot on. There is simply not the interest in the code in South East Queensland to support two teams within 100 km of each other. Even the game against Port the other night was a poor crowd - this is in a traditional football state.
All that has happened with the introduction of the Suns is a fracturing of the supporter base and degradation of our playing list by years of compromised drafts. I have always held the view that plays out of the Gold Coast will never be successful - Bears, Rollers, some crowd that Wally Lewis played for at some stage.
Gil, have a look at the average crowd that the two teams are pulling - oops sorry that doesn't matter because it is all about TV.

yep, i know of quite a few people who were lions supporters and either jumped straight on board with the suns or gradually over the years have gravitated to them. they all say the lions are our "second team" or they have a soft spot for us but they never go to lions games anymore except for the Qclash at the gabba or metricon.

 

[kenberger]

Wouldn't surprise me if that gets Gil thinking and he disbands the Lions

 

[MSB ROYS]

yep, i know of quite a few people who were lions supporters and either jumped straight on board with the suns or gradually over the years have gravitated to them. they all say the lions are our "second team" or they have a soft spot for us but they never go to lions games anymore except for the Qclash at the gabba or metricon.

They sound like the kind of people that would attend our games if we were doing better. Personally, I have no love for the Suns and see them as no different to any other team.

 

[SRH17]

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".

 

[M Malice]

They sound like the kind of people that would attend our games if we were doing better. Personally, I have no love for the Suns and see them as no different to any other team.

maybe. it doesn't seem to me that they have a real connection yet with the suns.
agree with you on the suns, i am not sensing any great rivalry with them ATM, that might build over the years if they are still around.

 

[Balony_pony16]

so when do the GC shut up shop?

 

[Balony_pony16]

The GC in sport generally has a pretty flaky history... Look at the struggles they have with getting League teams to succeed there over the years. A foreign sport like AFL really has very little chance at succeeding

 

[royboys4eva]

Lethal doing what he does best. Keep the pressure on the AFL and paint the picture that football in QLD is in big trouble ( which it is to a degree) and hopefully force their hands into either extra funding or in our case perhaps at seasons end a priority pick.

 

[Grizzly86]

so when do the GC shut up shop?

Half time last Saturday by the looks of things.

 

[lioninthesand]

I heard he was talking Merger?

Which I could see happening TBH. Eventually. GWS will be sustained by the biggest population base in Australia.

Issue I forsee is the Brisbane based fans or Fitzroy fans get burnt.

It's either the Brisbane Suns = no fitzroy and no lion.

Or the Goldcoast Lions = No Brisbane No Bears

Maybe the South East Queensland Lions Suns bears "I go for the SEQLSB"

 

[captainrich]

I heard he was talking Merger?

Which I could see happening TBH. Eventually. GWS will be sustained by the biggest population base in Australia.

Issue I forsee is the Brisbane based fans or Fitzroy fans get burnt.

It's either the Brisbane Suns = no fitzroy and no lion.

Or the Goldcoast Lions = No Brisbane No Bears

Maybe the South East Queensland Lions Suns bears "I go for the SEQLSB"

dont think the suns have enough of a following or a history to burn off previously successful clubs like Fitzroy, Bears and the brissy lions as a whole, chance they would just go into nothingness given there is no major affinity with their brand unlike the three mentioned

 

[dlanod]

I heard he was talking Merger?

Which I could see happening TBH. Eventually. GWS will be sustained by the biggest population base in Australia.

Issue I forsee is the Brisbane based fans or Fitzroy fans get burnt.

It's either the Brisbane Suns = no fitzroy and no lion.

Or the Goldcoast Lions = No Brisbane No Bears

Maybe the South East Queensland Lions Suns bears "I go for the SEQLSB"

What a majestic mascot pair we could have! Roy and...

...as long as he keeps his tongue to himself.

Although we could always fold Richmond in.

 

[SizeMatters]

I understand what Leigh was trying to say and his motives, but I hope it doesn't back fire on the club... we are asking for handouts and if Leigh is in a way bashing the AFL HQ then I think he may have some answering to do.

 

[lioninthesand]

dont think the suns have enough of a following or a history to burn off previously successful clubs like Fitzroy, Bears and the brissy lions as a whole, chance they would just go into nothingness given there is no major affinity with their brand unlike the three mentioned

Well then it's just talk, because even if only through pure stubbornness (let alone contractual issues) a team on the Goldcoast is here to stay, can you image the uproar if they just gave up on them?.

All this talk annoys me tbh and not sure why Leigh has said it, I know its chicken/ egg stuff, but if we just start winning some games or at least giving some reason for hope, we will be right.

 

[captainrich]

Well then it's just talk, because even if only through pure stubbornness (let alone contractual issues) a team on the Goldcoast is here to stay, can you image the uproar if they just gave up on them?.

All this talk annoys me tbh and not sure why Leigh has said it, I know its chicken/ egg stuff, but if we just start winning some games or at least giving some reason for hope, we will be right.

went through the suns list for if we did have a merger with them, getting maybe 15 players from their list, would be insane

For example if we did it tomorrow here is the 15 I would take
Jaegar O'Meara
Jack Martin
Alex Sexton
Gary Ablett
Dion Prestia
Rory Thompson
Steven May
Trent Mckenzie
Tom Lynch
Peter Wright
Aaron Hall
Kade Kolodhasnj
Callum Ah Chee
Dan Currie
Clay Cameron

would make us a pretty formidable squad (wishful thinking i know)

 

[Dylan12]

In the unlikely event it occurs, I'll be done if the Lions and Suns were to merge and the Lions name and colours were eradicated.

Caught the Suns President or CEO on SEN earlier, no idea his name, but talk about someone with no idea about footy, which isn't surprising given he was the ex-head of the Gold Coast V8 Supercars or Grand Prix.

 

[SRH17]

I understand what Leigh was trying to say and his motives, but I hope it doesn't back fire on the club... we are asking for handouts and if Leigh is in a way bashing the AFL HQ then I think he may have some answering to do.

I'm not sure it can get any worse than what it is now, a handout from the AFL is just keeping us on life support.

 

[Balony_pony16]

I heard he was talking Merger?

Which I could see happening TBH. Eventually. GWS will be sustained by the biggest population base in Australia.

Issue I forsee is the Brisbane based fans or Fitzroy fans get burnt.

It's either the Brisbane Suns = no fitzroy and no lion.

Or the Goldcoast Lions = No Brisbane No Bears

Maybe the South East Queensland Lions Suns bears "I go for the SEQLSB"

I hope not...id rather just let them fold and their players going on the free agent list

 

[James North]

In the unlikely event it occurs, I'll be done if the Lions and Suns were to merge and the Lions name and colours were eradicated.

Caught the Suns President or CEO on SEN earlier, no idea his name, but talk about someone with no idea about footy, which isn't surprising given he was the ex-head of the Gold Coast V8 Supercars or Grand Prix.

I think this is completely reasonable.

I'd even find it distasteful as a local, as I don't feel like we're as 'created' as the other expansion clubs. I feel like we got something legit from Fitzroy and I'd hate to see that disappear.

Leigh is right - we just don't care about anything other than NRL up here, followed by daylight, followed by whatever team is doing well.

They'd be better off starting a Tassie team or an NT team or even a North QLD team. The locals up there go nuts for anything coming to town.

 

[SchacheLions]

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.

 

[Back2Back2Back]

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".

That shat me off entirely at the time - especially since the only reason they were expanding back to the GC was after the Lions won the top prize 3, nearly 4 years in a row. So, you know, you're freaking welcome for even having a job to go to McKenna. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.

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. So this enforces the NRL code as the top pick to watch. Even during our golden period I could count the number of full colour back page spreads we had each season on one hand. And hell, we've got Wally Lewis and Shane Webcke on the two major evening news reports up here. Where are our local retired iconic AFL personalities? Well we hired and fired Vossy and he's pissed off to Port, and Brown has taken on a Victorian radio segment and relocated his family south in the process. What does that say about the AFL footprint in QLD?

The AFL really need to do a proper case study into the QLD market and focus more funds to not just the Lions and the Suns but to attack and saturate the market in general. Even if we do start winning and become competitive again there's no guarantee it will get the media recognition it deserves organically, as mentioned above with just how little impact we make when things do go right.

 

[SRH17]

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.

Leigh was never one for the emotional rev up, he reckons it lasts for about two minutes.
Cool and calculating is Lethal, there is a motive behind it and if the AFL doesnt listen to one of the most respected figures in the game who is also living in the mess that is AFL in South East Queensland then they are more insular than I thought.
Should have put a team into Far North Queensland.