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

[Walshawk]

The will need o be a massive shake up of the fixture and secondary markets in 2028.

• If the AFL keeps Gather Round, they will need to increase to 24 games, as an off number of games does not work with an odd number of teams.
• Eight games (Hawks @ Nth in Tas) need to be relocated. So there is an opportunity for more games in the markets that could possibly be Team 20. There is also the opportunity for more GC and GWS games in their primary market.

This is what I would do.
Increase to 24 rounds.
Non Victorian clubs get 12 home games. Vic clubs get 11, plus one neutral game. Seven of these neutral games are played in Adelaide at Gather Round. The other three could be played in Canberra, NZ, Darwin, Cairns, wherever (I would go Canberra)
All GWS games played in Sydney, all GC games in GC. Let’s actually have a serious crack at those markets rather than being half pregnant.
North play 2/3 games in Darwin.
Hawks two games in Canberra (plus the three neutral games makes five).
Dees move Alice Springs game to Cairns.
Indigenous All Stars game to Alice Springs.
Saints one game in Albury, one @ MCG.

While we are at it, I would rebuild the Warne Stand in one go over 18 - 24 months and play the GF at Homebush. We need to do something to get footy happening west of Sydney.

 

[Canberra Pear]

This area is set to have zero per cent population growth. What does that mean for its residents?

Growth in Canberra has shifted to the north and west in recent years, and the Tuggeranong area is not predicted to expand. So what can residents who've already made this southern suburb their home expect?

www.abc.net.au

As of currently, it's 472,803 (as of March 2024) but that is expected to grow to 785,000 by 2060 in Canberra.

We've also got Canberra suburbs in NSW that don't get included in that. We're at about 580k within an hour of Manuka (would've passed 600k if Goulburn was 5 mins closer). So Greater Canberra will be be ~900k by 2060.

Greater Canberra will be about 650k when the Giants contract ends in 2032. The Capital Region will be more than 800k by then (which doesn't include the Riverina).

 

[amazingjoshy]

Additionally why would North not request to play Hawks down in Tassie?

This stinks of AFL intervention to get North to play a WA team to reduce travel for then. North are just the fodder.

North first asked about this years ago

The AFL has always said no

 

[errant bounce]

I genuinely think this is a good thing for WA footy and for North Melbourne.

Any issues over a bias for Freo or West Coast is a pisstake. I'm not insular WA football conspiracist but they're travelling the most distances the most often. an extra game, in reality an extra game every two years, won't do a thing. the fact North play well in Perth mitigates that too.

People have an appetite for the sport and it seems there's been a real dilution and relaxation of the bitterness between Freo and the Eagles; it's not a cystic or biting as it was. more people seem more open to the other now. I don't think that breeds tough football clubs or is a particularly good thing at all, but there's definitely an openness you didn't have 20 years ago. covid proved people will watch any team.

North's incredibly well supported in WA as well. they're not that far at all behind the big 'interstate' sides like Carlton and Essendon and probably on a level with the Cats. you throw that in with them being on the up with some intrigue over their development and I genuinely reckon people will get on board.

The other little benefit is this: the WA clubs are sick of playing Sunday evening games. it's great for tele in the eastern states, but it's shit for attending. you give the Roos two games a season at Optus give them that late Sunday slot. it suits their Victorian fans and frees up a Saturday or even Friday night double up for the Dockers and Eagles.

 

[blueboy25]

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 issue is and it has been pointed out a number of times is that the non vic teams play 11 home games of which 10 of those they are playing against teams where Optus isn't their home ground and 95% of the crowd is made up of the home side.

Using my team as an example, Carlton played 4 home games this year against teams that the MCG or Marvel was not their home ground.

Yes we played away games at the MCG and Marvel but you are never going to get a fair fixture unless you get to 34 rounds.

 

[Seattle Mariners]

Dees move Alice Springs game to Cairns.
Indigenous All Stars game to Alice Springs.

Can't see this happening at all.
Melbourne have some sort of infatuation with the Alice Springs despite getting tonked there most years.

Either they remain in Alice Springs or the game gets moved to Marvel.

 

[errant bounce]

I also think these secondary market things are good for the game but essentially useless for the clubs.

Hawthorn's being in Launceston for 20 years now and has brought some of the best players and teams of the modern era there four times a season while winning flags. they're still a fair way behind Collingwood and Richmond as the most popular teams in Tasmania. the Hawks would have more of a following in South Australia.

Canberra's not far from western Sydney but the majority of people there are working there because they have to. they aren't giving up their Melbourne club for the Giants. it's also a pretty historical Australian rules town so there's way too many decades of dedication. and if you ask me, the idea of designing a club to catch an uncaptured market and then only quasi-dedicating yourself to that zone is bizarre. get out of that shithole stadium in the Olympic precinct and develop a more sensible stadium where GWS can play 11 full home games. leave Canberra to one or a rotating cast of Victorian sides.

Darwin, Alice Springs? it's footy-starved but footy loving kids in the crowd who don't give two shits who play, as long as they can have a kick on the ground and have a bit of fun. it's not especially the demographic who are going to become dedicated loyalists for the Gold Coast Suns. they're kids who like having a kick and care more about players and good teams than microanalysing the points system. they've got a fun approach to footy.

Cairns, Townsville, Sunshine Coast will always be footy curious at best. allegiances are going to align, and they obviously should, with the Suns and Lions. North or St Kilda or the Hawks up there won't do a thing.

I think the future is looking a bit laterally. Kangas are well supported in Perth. why not double down on that and alleviate some WA club pressures and financial requirements of the broadcasters? I somehow doubt you're going to cripple particularly the Eagles, but even not the Dockers by having a part-time intruder like North Melbourne.

 

[HBFlanker]

Its very very smart, and as i posted in the North board, it was agreed upon between North and West Coast in late 2022, just before the rug was pulled out by the AFL.

North need to get out of Tassie. Now.

For me, the ideal split is 9 home games in Melbourne, then 1 in Bendigo and 1 in Albury/Wodonga. True "North" of Melbourne. Albury/Wodonga is ready, but maybe not Bendigo.

For the interim, WA makes so so much sense. Its a win-win across the board for at least a couple of seasons.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

The WA thing absolutely should not be allowed. Playing home games at the opposition's state is just plain moronic.

Additionally why would North not request to play Hawks down in Tassie?

This stinks of AFL intervention to get North to play a WA team to reduce travel for then. North are just the fodder.

That one was requested by both clubs, not to play each other in Tas and divide the market, from the day North signed the Hobart deal. The AFL, as is their wont if you aren't Collingwood, ignored the request and has pretty much had us play at York Park almost every second year.

 

[Cam Payne]

Obviously, we all know travel is far less of a disadvantage than sharing a home ground in Melbourne, but however this works out you can safely assume if Freo get the match we'll be expected to travel to Brissy twice, Tassie and the NT next year.

 

[The Tilt]

Why would the Saints or the Hawks want to travel to WA to play a game against North which North get all the money from?

It would benefit the Eagles or the Dockers to play North in WA as they don't have to travel but it's no benefit to other clubs.

If this happens, I’m pretty confident it will be a North home game against either WC or Freo. That said, why would Hawthorn or St Kilda need to benefit? They’d be the away team: it wouldn’t require their agreement. Whether they would 'want to' to play North in Perth seems irrelevant.

 

[Underarm]

The other little benefit is this: the WA clubs are sick of playing Sunday evening games. it's great for tele in the eastern states, but it's shit for attending. you give the Roos two games a season at Optus give them that late Sunday slot. it suits their Victorian fans and frees up a Saturday or even Friday night double up for the Dockers and Eagles.

Huh? Have the WA clubs ever played Sunday evening- I.e a game starting 7pm or later local time?

 

[Roobs321]

Neale’s Demons had that Gabba home game thing going for a while there, although they were only fixtured to face the (then intimidating) Lions once then. From 2001-07 they only met once a year at the Gabba.

North-Eagles have an exotic history, including 3 at Manuka in the 00s, Carrara in 2008, SCG in that 1999 season, and 4 at Bellerive (above average).

 

[blueboy25]

Huh? Have the WA clubs ever played Sunday evening- I.e a game starting 7pm or later local time?

No they haven't because it would be too late for those over east who need to be in bed by 9pm.

What they are saying is that the Eagles and Dockers get more than their fair share of the last game of the round which is usually a Sunday afternoon when a lot of kids are playing junior footy.

 

[Underarm]

No they haven't because it would be too late for those over east who need to be in bed by 9pm.

What they are saying is that the Eagles and Dockers get more than their fair share of the last game of the round which is usually a Sunday afternoon when a lot of kids are playing junior footy.

Its pretty even actually. Games starting after 2:30 local time - 15 in Melbourne, 9 Perth and 7 in Adelaide.

 

[blueboy25]

Its pretty even actually. Games starting after 2:30 local time - 15 in Melbourne, 9 Perth and 7 in Adelaide.

So 15 games between 12 clubs compared to 9 between 2

 

[Freomaniac]

Gold acoast should get out of Darwin, and actually focus on growing the game on the fecking Gold Coast.

If North need $$, they should then get games in Darwin.

North bias?

 

[Plugger35]

If this happens, I’m pretty confident it will be a North home game against either WC or Freo. That said, why would Hawthorn or St Kilda need to benefit? They’d be the away team: it wouldn’t require their agreement. Whether they would 'want to' to play North in Perth seems irrelevant.

It's not about the Saints or the Hawks needing to benefit from a North home game in WA it's that it would be a big disadvantage for them to have another long trip to WA which is of no benefit to them and only benefits North in terms of them making money.

 

[errant bounce]

Huh? Have the WA clubs ever played Sunday evening- I.e a game starting 7pm or later local time?

The WA teams mostly play Sunday games that start at 3.40 or it might even be 4.40. games aren't finishing until 6.30, 7.00. even if you live in the middle of Freo, and that's a good outcome, you're not getting home until close to 9pm. it's a shithouse slot.

You know that, you just wanted to be smug.

 

[Underarm]

The WA teams mostly play Sunday games that start at 3.40 or it might even be 4.40. games aren't finishing until 6.30, 7.00. even if you live in the middle of Freo, and that's a good outcome, you're not getting home until close to 9pm. it's a shithouse slot.

You know that, you just wanted to be smug.

While this has been true in the past, the AFL have done better at getting the perth games started at a more reasonable time.

Only 4 matches started after 3pm local time in Perth. Richmond alone had 8.