Think Tank Moving forward, which teams should be merged or removed?

[FireKrakouer]

Dear beautiful bayflies,

With the prospect of two new teams incoming, it has become beyond apparent that the talent pool of players, coaching staff etc is being spread too thin.

We have pointless plastic franchises like the Giants, the Suns, and the Eagles to prop up. We have disgraced "Big 4" "Big 3 + Richmond" teams like Essendon and Carlton being irrelevant for a generation. We have the Swines frequently getting the red carpet rolled out for them to "earn" gifted flags yet still snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. We have Norf and the Aints just consistently and relentlessly making a mockery of our great sport.

Can we maintain the league with 20 teams? I say NO. Even 18 has proven a bridge too far. With the Tasmanian Sheds and whoever else about to join the gravy train of love, which existing teams need to merge in order to keep the league stable?

Since the bandwagonners of Richmond predictably abandoned their place in the Big 4, should the underperforming members of the Big 3 - Carlton and Essendon - merge to create some actual competition? (The added bonus here would be that all of the league's most feral fans would be contained to just one match per round, making it easier for civilised supporters to avoid.)

Should norf and the dwarfburners merge, or is the rot so extensive that we should simply delete these two teams?

Do we throw in the towel with the NSW market completely?

There's many a possible permutation here. Discuss.

 

[Saveloy Rockstar]

Any team that has at this point lost 5 or more AFL GFs

 

[Tiger2709]

Dear beautiful bayflies,

With the prospect of two new teams incoming, it has become beyond apparent that the talent pool of players, coaching staff etc is being spread too thin.

We have pointless plastic franchises like the Giants, the Suns, and the Eagles to prop up. We have disgraced "Big 4" "Big 3 + Richmond" teams like Essendon and Carlton being irrelevant for a generation. We have the Swines frequently getting the red carpet rolled out for them to "earn" gifted flags yet still snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. We have Norf and the Aints just consistently and relentlessly making a mockery of our great sport.

Can we maintain the league with 20 teams? I say NO. Even 18 has proven a bridge too far. With the Tasmanian Sheds and whoever else about to join the gravy train of love, which existing teams need to merge in order to keep the league stable?

Since the bandwagonners of Richmond predictably abandoned their place in the Big 4, should the underperforming members of the Big 3 - Carlton and Essendon - merge to create some actual competition? (The added bonus here would be that all of the league's most feral fans would be contained to just one match per round, making it easier for civilised supporters to avoid.)

Should norf and the dwarfburners merge, or is the rot so extensive that we should simply delete these two teams?

Do we throw in the towel with the NSW market completely?

There's many a possible permutation here. Discuss.

Big 4 Flags this century:
Richmond 3
Collingwood 2
Essendon 1
Carlton 0
Maybe we should merge the clubs that no longer have any connection with the suburb they were named after?

 

[Elmer_Hauser]

Fremantle
Gold Coast
St Kilda
Tasmania

Useless leeches on the competition

 

[zackah]

Tassie Devils

 

[Sqotty from office works]

The only sensible merge on the table so far is footisgray and geelong