I've been having a think about it recently and it makes sense to me so i thought i would crunch some numbers and see how much of a difference it could really make if the Eagles would stay in Melbourne for one month of the football year.
Take into account it would also mean that the purple pansies would have to agree to a similar structure as well so there wouldn't be clashes with playing at home.
Flight distance from Perth to Melbourne is 2,730km so return it's 5,460 kms.
Flight distance from Perth to Tasmania is 2,923km so return it's 5,846 kms
Flight distance from Perth to Sydney is 3,294kms so return it's 6,588 kms
Flight distance from Perth to Brisbane is 3,614kms so return it's 7,288kms
Flight distance from Perth to Adelaide is 2,133kms so return it's 4,266kms
This season we had to travel to
Melbourne 5 times
Tasmania 0 times
Sydney 2 times
Brisbane 1 time
Adelaide 2 times
That's a total of 10 games for 47,764kms.
In comparison with lets say the Hawks who actually do a fair chunk of traveling for a vic club due to playing 4 games in Tasmania a year.
Flight distance from Melbourne to Adelaide is 639km so return its 1,278kms
Flight distance from Melbourne to Sydney is 712km so return it's 1424kms
Flight distance from Melbourne to Brisbane is 1375kms so return its 2750kms
Flight distance from Melbourne to Tasmania is 419kms so return it's 838kms
They traveled to
Perth 1 time
Brisbane 1 time
Sydney 1 time
Adelaide 1 time
Tasmania 4 times
That's a total of 8 games for 14,264kms
So we traveled 33,500kms more than the Hawks had to this year.
Is it any wonder that players don't want to come play in W.A?
I wont go into great lengths about it but here is a report on how air travel greatly impacts athletic performance.
http://www.exercisemed.org/research-blog/the-effects-of-flying-on.html
We have more than enough funds to build a home base in Melbourne and lets be honest, land and property is still equity no matter how you look at it.
If we scheduled a month in melbourne once a year to use as a platform to
Play one game in Brisbane
Play one game in Sydney
Play three games in Melbourne
We would effectively be reducing our travel by 20,622kms.
Over the course of a players ten year career that's 206,220km less he has to travel. The numbers don't lie.
Between July the 17th and August the 13th this year we traveled to Melbourne twice (Carlton, Collingwood) ad Sydney once (GWS) with home games in between against Demons and Fremantle.
We traveled 17,508 kms in just a little over a month.
Now imagine we had a home base in Melbourne and instead of flying home twice we scheduled a game in Brisbane and another in Melbourne.
Instead of traveling
30,256kms for five games
We travel
9,634kms
By doing this we cut our travel down from to 47,764kms to 27,142kms.
Now lets look at time spent in the aircraft
Perth to Melbourne return is 7 and a half hours.
Perth to Brisbane return is 10 hours.
Perth to Sydney is 9 hours and 45 minutes.
Melbourne to Brisbane return is 4 and a half hours.
Melbourne to Sydney return is 3 hours.
We'd only spend in an aircraft for the 5 games proposed above 15 hours compared to 42.5 hours.
It's a huge difference and something we should be looking at and forcing the AFL to accept.
The players would adjust pretty quickly and we would find rehabilitation must easier to manage throughout the course of a season and their careers as a result would be longer.
Because of this we would also attract more talent to play for us.
Build a fortress away from home and reap the rewards.
So......
What does everyone think about this?
Take into account it would also mean that the purple pansies would have to agree to a similar structure as well so there wouldn't be clashes with playing at home.
Flight distance from Perth to Melbourne is 2,730km so return it's 5,460 kms.
Flight distance from Perth to Tasmania is 2,923km so return it's 5,846 kms
Flight distance from Perth to Sydney is 3,294kms so return it's 6,588 kms
Flight distance from Perth to Brisbane is 3,614kms so return it's 7,288kms
Flight distance from Perth to Adelaide is 2,133kms so return it's 4,266kms
This season we had to travel to
Melbourne 5 times
Tasmania 0 times
Sydney 2 times
Brisbane 1 time
Adelaide 2 times
That's a total of 10 games for 47,764kms.
In comparison with lets say the Hawks who actually do a fair chunk of traveling for a vic club due to playing 4 games in Tasmania a year.
Flight distance from Melbourne to Adelaide is 639km so return its 1,278kms
Flight distance from Melbourne to Sydney is 712km so return it's 1424kms
Flight distance from Melbourne to Brisbane is 1375kms so return its 2750kms
Flight distance from Melbourne to Tasmania is 419kms so return it's 838kms
They traveled to
Perth 1 time
Brisbane 1 time
Sydney 1 time
Adelaide 1 time
Tasmania 4 times
That's a total of 8 games for 14,264kms
So we traveled 33,500kms more than the Hawks had to this year.
Is it any wonder that players don't want to come play in W.A?
I wont go into great lengths about it but here is a report on how air travel greatly impacts athletic performance.
http://www.exercisemed.org/research-blog/the-effects-of-flying-on.html
We have more than enough funds to build a home base in Melbourne and lets be honest, land and property is still equity no matter how you look at it.
If we scheduled a month in melbourne once a year to use as a platform to
Play one game in Brisbane
Play one game in Sydney
Play three games in Melbourne
We would effectively be reducing our travel by 20,622kms.
Over the course of a players ten year career that's 206,220km less he has to travel. The numbers don't lie.
Between July the 17th and August the 13th this year we traveled to Melbourne twice (Carlton, Collingwood) ad Sydney once (GWS) with home games in between against Demons and Fremantle.
We traveled 17,508 kms in just a little over a month.
Now imagine we had a home base in Melbourne and instead of flying home twice we scheduled a game in Brisbane and another in Melbourne.
Instead of traveling
30,256kms for five games
We travel
9,634kms
By doing this we cut our travel down from to 47,764kms to 27,142kms.
Now lets look at time spent in the aircraft
Perth to Melbourne return is 7 and a half hours.
Perth to Brisbane return is 10 hours.
Perth to Sydney is 9 hours and 45 minutes.
Melbourne to Brisbane return is 4 and a half hours.
Melbourne to Sydney return is 3 hours.
We'd only spend in an aircraft for the 5 games proposed above 15 hours compared to 42.5 hours.
It's a huge difference and something we should be looking at and forcing the AFL to accept.
The players would adjust pretty quickly and we would find rehabilitation must easier to manage throughout the course of a season and their careers as a result would be longer.
Because of this we would also attract more talent to play for us.
Build a fortress away from home and reap the rewards.
So......
What does everyone think about this?