GWS won't be dancing with the Sydney Swans

AF, Mate I can assure there has never been a QAFL / VFL / AFL club named the Gold Coast Bears. The Brisbane Bears were formed as the Brisbane Bears. At the time however there was no suitable home ground for them (the Gabba was encircled by a greyhound track) so they set-up at Carrara Oval. I guess it was also convenient for Skase who lived just down the road. Maybe the tongue-in-cheek nickname "The Carrara Koalas" had you confused? The Roos only moved home games to Carrara as an experiment, they haven't ever been called the NM/GC Kangaroos. JamesP is right, 4k at a GCU home final = EPIC FAIL

I saw about 15min of the game on sat night and thought their was a strange silence from the crowd, a lack of atmosphere, perhaps someone who was actually there can comment ?, although it was the first quarter. There will be another game their apparently this pre-season, i wonder if that will be a sell out, i for one hope that it is, i imagine the skills on show will be better. What is a better pointer for code awareness is the junior club registrations in GWS that have already been recently held, the draws will be released soon, this will give a gauge on whether more kids are signing up to play Australian football, GWS would be on par with Newcastle and Townsville IMO as probably the weakest junior comps in Australia. Whilst mid week school comps are fairly popular( around Sydney ), the next step is moving these players to club football on the weekends, many of these kids are already playing a sport, whether it be another football code or volleyball, basketball etc, this is the hardbit, it means auskick becomes very important, because if you get them involved early enough, you tend to keep them. At a guess junior rego will rise significantly around the west of Sydney the next few years as it has around the Swans "territory's " of the northern and eastern suburbs of Sydney. Whilst the Swans have been in sydney around 30 years, the push at junior level has really only been on in earnest for around 5 years. A good case in pont is the Wollongong junior football comp which now has around 10 junior clubs which did not exist 10 years ago, i believe they have moved to sunday football to give other kids a chance to experience another code on sundays if they wish, this is the beauty of not being the dominant code, you can try these things to increase you talent pool and numbers.

when you start you comment with : "They will. They used the same tactic against Melbourne Heart to stop their announcements of the new team. Even the Lord Mayors Charity tried legal attempts to stop the Heart starter." in reference to StKilda, and follow up with "Its typical, its predictable, but that’s how the AFL operate these days." It's pretty clear that you're asserting an AFL involvement of sorts with the Melbourne Lord Mayor's charity ("The heart of MElbourne"). - - - - why is the AFL soccer obsessed these days?? well, perhaps in branding terms because soccer folk attempt now to use the phrase "Australian Football" which is misleading and incorrect but a direct result of FFA marketing, and because the FFA tried to shaft the AFL over Docklands re the FIFA WC bid, if the FFA intend to keep sticking their snout in the AFL trough - - then, it becomes the AFL's business. Simple. why is Australian soccer so "Australian Football" obsessed all of a sudden??

The Black and Red are the colours of Blacktown City and Bankstown City who also wear a white away strip. I don't know why they went for a St.Kilda design, honestly if they wanted to emulate an AFL team's strip why did they pick one of the least successful teams in the history of Aussie Rules to copy? Surely Essendon would have been a better rip off? Soon the AFL heads are going to accuse Juventus, Newcastle United, Udinese, Notts County, St.Mirren, Grimsby Town and Port Vale of copying Collingwood's jumper! I maintain that many if not most people in Western Sydney would not know what colours St.Kilda wear let alone what their jumper looks like. If I were to ask people in Melbourne what the Sydney Roosters or Penrith's colours are let alone the design of their strips I bet at least 90% would not know. Many wouldn't even know what colours the Storm wear.

I've heard of St Kilda because I'm living in Melbourne, people in Western Sydney might not have!

NAB cup 1st round matches should never be taken too seriously from 'quality', For so many reasons - - it's folly to make too big a deal of such a game for promotional purposes - - teams are having their first hit out under real pressure, new guys playing their first game for their new club - young kids getting a run who aren't likely to see a senior H&A game 'til next year, and new game plans getting a run for the first time. The best players will generally get limited game time. True though - the train 'siren' was an early highlight - and then for the Swans in the 3rd when Jetta and Rohan showed glimpses to exite with the promise of future exploits. All in all - these games tend to be scrappy. To expect otherwise is unrealistic - - however, Coll vs StKil on Friday night served up a NAB Cup 1st Round 'special'.....all things considered.

I'm surprised that nobody has commented on the quality of the game. I watched the first two quarters on TV and it was the worst game of any football (AFL, football, RL or RU) that I have seen in over 20 years. A fumblethon from start to half-time only enlivened by the hoot of the Blacktown Express 30 seconds before halftime. I'm sure the organisers were happy that it attracted more than the 3,700 people who watched the NAB Cup game between the Western Bulldogs and the Brisbane Lions at Manuka Oval in Canberra the week before but it makes Kevin Sheedy's claims that there are 2 million people in western Sydney desperate to see the indigenous game as well as one million in GWS's recruiting zone of Canberra and surrounds (Canberra has a population of only 330,000) ring a little hollow.

http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/122883,sydney-rovers-the-kits.aspx Been out for a while, does it look like North Sydney Bears in the NRL and Manchester United and Flamengo or is it a carbon copy of St Kilda.

Where did I say the AFL runs the Melbourne Lord Mayor's Charity? There were 2 separate legal challenges to the Melbourne Heart, which delayed their start and public announcements. Why does the AFL have special ownership of the colours red, black and white for a football team or even the term football club? The Rovers haven't released their shirt design yet, as far as I know. Why is the AFL obsessed with soccer these days?

Al said | Today Rovers with the colour scheme they’re going for should have gone for a Sao Paulo type design, extrememly good looking, simple and classic design. http://www.subsidesports.com/uk/images/product/large/SaoPauloHSS0607 Al , that looks fine or as i have said they could have a zillion different versions of red, black ,white but they chose a carbon copy of one of the biggest football clubs in Australian but who is also a competitor ........ have to ask yourself why???.

I think we both know its not the colours, plenty of teams have the same colours but the rovers have replicated the exact same design, an exact carbon copy, and the more i think about it, it is the soccer club trying one on here. AFAIAC the AFL/St Kilda would be well within their rights to demand rovers to change it, have you actually seen the rovers design?, if you haven't, no need to worry just have a look at a St Kilda jumper and you have it exactly. I also was not aware that the AFL now runs run the Lord Mayors charity, you seem to be under some sort idea that it was the AFL challenging the hearts.

JP, Oh, Oh, suddenly your memory has clicked and we are now remembering who owned the defunct Gold Coast Bears---good show, brilliant.

Christopher Skase---Sorry, yes it was that AFL crook Christopher who owned the GC Bears.

They will. They used the same tactic against Melbourne Heart to stop their announcements of the new team. Even the Lord Mayors Charity tried legal attempts to stop the Heart starter. Sydney Rovers will probably also be challenged by the Swans for using the term Sydney Football Club, like they did to Heart for using Melbourne Football Club. Its typical, its predictable, but that's how the AFL operate these days. Publically they attack the NRL but their real focus is on soccer at the moment. Interestingly, the Moorabbin Saints have the same red white and black colours as St Kilda, as do the North Sydney Bears in the NRL and Manchester United and Flamengo - they all have similar red, black and white colours - why aren't the AFL after them?

Al - hooray, you and I have found common ground at last!!!! Carlton by far have the nicest looking AFL jumper. The worst has to be Fremantle and the butt ugly Hawthorn, which moron thought that yellow and brown stripes would be a winning combo? 100% agreed. And I hate Carlton.......but, gawd, in the old days for facing big John Nicholls and co, physical giants in that Carlton jumper would've put the fear of god into young kids just starting out.......

Dogz, the funniest thing about NRL tops is that despite 20 years of marketers and fashion monkeys mucking around with the Jerseys the retro tops are the best selling ones and rightly so.

Carlton by far have the nicest looking AFL jumper. The worst has to be Fremantle and the butt ugly Hawthorn, which moron thought that yellow and brown stripes would be a winning combo?

Rovers with the colour scheme they're going for should have gone for a Sao Paulo type design, extrememly good looking, simple and classic design. http://www.subsidesports.com/uk/images/product/large/SaoPauloHSS0607.gif

There's absolutely no doubt that if you're talking about casual attire, or ven smart casual dress, then soccer tops have it all over AFL tops - and by a good distance. But as an Australian fashion statement - who can possibly go past thongs, stubbies and an NRL jersey??? :)

there's always been a couple of schools of thought on AFL (VFL) jumpers - 1. keep it able to be knitted by nanna (AFL merchandising don't like this one) 2. at very least make the pre-season/away tops something more akin to what could be worn casually 3. just do colour scheme shirts rather than jumper design shirts 4. leave the big sponsor logo for the training tops.....I used to have my pride and joy - a 'Budget' training top which I must've forgotten to get back off someone at Uni all those years ago.....still dirty about it!!! right, was that a couple?? 5. but, then, at the end of the day - a club like Essendon takes pride in holding the world record for the longest running jumper in the world of footballs......so what then if the design is straight out of the 1860s??