North want to sell a home game to the Dockers or Eagles

[Chip Scab1]

We have over 10,000 paid members in WA. Makes sense as we aren't the minnow in WA, we are everywhere else.

 

[Sentinel]

Reducing the travel inequality for the WA clubs is a step toward a more balanced competition. This is one of the easiest ways to fix this pretty important issue, a club is literally asking to be the solution lol

Regardless of how you think of it, the AFL has shown that they dont care about adding more inequalities to balance out existing inequalities. They like to have levers to play with to adjust as they see fit, the draft being the main example im referring to.

Do you think 1 game for 1 of the 2 teams would have a significant impact with that though? I might be wrong but I'd be more inclined to think having road trips for WA clubs to play several games away, and on the flipside having a decent stretch of home games together, like the NBA might be beneficial but equally that mightn't work because of the time between games.

I appreciate what this would do for both North (financially, not for on field results) and their opponent, and understand that there are some inherent disadvantages which can't really be solved organically, but the fixture (like the draft) is such a mess already so I'm not a fan at all of adding even more quirks to it - rather I think they should be removing them where they can.

 

[boncer34]

We have over 10,000 paid members in WA. Makes sense as we aren't the minnow in WA, we are everywhere else.

20% of your membership base is in WA? I call bullshit.

 

[Sentinel]

20% of your membership base is in WA? I call bullshit.

The Barry Cable effect perhaps?

 

[Spirit Level]

"surely the solution is to reduce the number of inequalities moving forward rather than adding new ones."

"surely the solution is to reduce the number of inequalities moving forward rather than adding new ones."

So your solution is to reduce the amount of games vic teams play in melbourne?

 

[GhostofJimJess]

Functionally, in terms of fairness, how is it any different to Geelong hosting the big Melbourne clubs at the MCG?

Precedent is already set

Well, firstly, because there's more Geelong supporters in Melbourne than there is in Geelong.

 

[amazingjoshy]

Well, firstly, because there's more Geelong supporters in Melbourne than there is in Geelong.

Could almost say something similar about North supporters in Perth

 

[The Feeder Club]

So your solution is to reduce the amount of games vic teams play in melbourne?

The best solution is to reduce the number of Vic teams. But none of them want to hear that

 

[stallon]

Do you think 1 game for 1 of the 2 teams would have a significant impact with that though? I might be wrong but I'd be more inclined to think having road trips for WA clubs to play several games away, and on the flipside having a decent stretch of home games together, like the NBA might be beneficial but equally that mightn't work because of the time between games.

It definitely would help. Doing road trips only works while a playing group is young and has no kids. That was a big part of why the Eagles struggled with the covid hubs, so many of the players had families and they werent given dates for how long theyd be away for. Then there is all the other staff who may have to be away for multiple weeks too.
Why not just have the vic clubs do road trips? 2 Vic clubs per year spend 3 weeks in WA, they could play west coast, then each other, then play freo before heading home. Every 5 years the club gets to spend 3 weeks away(10 vic clubs, 2 per year). A lot more manageable and fair than making the WA teams do it every year.

I appreciate what this would do for both North (financially, not for on field results) and their opponent, and understand that there are some inherent disadvantages which can't really be solved organically, but the fixture (like the draft) is such a mess already so I'm not a fan at all of adding even more quirks to it - rather I think they should be removing them where they can.

The fix is to either give the WA clubs an extra home game like SA gets with gather round, or find another way to reduce travel that is not just the WA clubs spending 3 weeks away in a row every year.

 

[Rob]

Ordinarily I'd be against it as it lowers the integrity of the competition.

But the AFL clearly don't give a **** about the integrity of the competition so why should I?

 

[Power Raid]

I remember they tried this years ago but the AFL blocked it, saying you can’t sell your home games to a location that already has an AFL team.

Could the AFL have changed their tune in the hunt for money?

Would seem a bit of a dangerous precedent where rich clubs could buy home games.

Every Melbourne club should be encouraged to sell a few home games to level out the average number of games they play in Melbourne to a number closer to 14

 

[The_Reaper]

Well, firstly, because there's more Geelong supporters in Melbourne than there is in Geelong.

That has nothing to do with fairness at all.

 

[chaddy22]

The Barry Cable effect perhaps?

If you are a keen follower of West Australian football, there is a reasonable chance that North Melbourne would have been your team in the VFL if you were around before 1987.

North retain a strong WA following 28 years after West Coast entered the competition and 20 years following the admission of Fremantle.

Why? Because of the parade of WA champions that were running around for them from the time that Barry Cable crossed the Nullarbor to play for the Kangaroos in 1970, until the period Ross Glendinning returned from North to lead West Coast in their inaugural season in 1987.

West Australians have remained strong contributors at the Kangaroos since.

More than any other single VFL team of the 1970s and 1980s, the Kangaroos plucked the cream of the WAFL for almost 20 years before the advent of the Eagles.

And they got serious bang for their buck.

The team we picked of West Australians who represented the Kangaroos includes players who account for eight Sandover Medals — Cable (three), Peter Spencer and Phil Kelly (two each) and Graham Melrose (one). There would have been a ninth, but Derek Kickett was ineligible when he dominated the 1988 vote count.

​

There is also a Brownlow medallist in there as well, thanks to Glendinning’s super 1983 campaign.

He was also runner-up the previous year. Cable finished fourth in 1970 and 1976.

West Australians account for 10 best and fairests at North Melbourne from 1970 to the present day. Cable won in 1970, Glendining in 1982 and 1983, Jim Krakouer in 1986, Peter Bell in 2000, Andrew Swallow in 2009, Daniel Wells and Swallow in 2011, Swallow in 2012 and Wells, who shared the gong with Scott Thompson in 2013.

The WA contingent also account for several All-Australian jumpers and team-of-the-year honours. Cable was a multiple All-Australian, ditto Glendinning. Bell was an All-Australian in 1999.

Krakouer was named in the VFL team of the year in 1986 and 1987, a side Glendinning was also named in for three successive seasons in the 1980s.

Every North Melbourne premiership team has contained at least one West Australian — Cable in 1975, Cable and Stephen McCann in 1977, Bell and Dean Laidley in 1996 and Bell and Winston Abraham in 1999. Melrose was desperately unlucky to miss the 1975 flag through injury.

Two West Australians have coached North — Cable from 1981 to 1983 and Laidley from 2003 to 2009, highlighted by a preliminary final in 2007.

Swallow has captained the club the past three seasons.