Karmichael Hunt alone couldn’t win the battle for the hearts and minds of sports fans on the Gold Coast, but with Gary Ablett on board, the Titans and the NRL should be extremely wary. At 12:30pm eastern yesterday, Gary Ablett walked into a crowded room at Melbourne’s Crown Casino and announced that he’d signed a five-year-deal with the Gold Coast Suns.
At 12:31pm eastern yesterday Michael Searle, the chief executive of the Gold Coast Titans, should’ve been on the phone to his cabinet preparing for war.
Searle almost needs to march out onto the sand opposite Cavill Avenue and deliver a Churchillian like speech to the Suns hierarchy.
The Gold Coast is rugby league heartland, but Ablett has immense and credible pulling power. His boots and not his mouth do the bulk of the talking.
A power struggle of epic proportions has started and if the Titans don’t know they’re in a fight, they soon will.
Searle and his team have done a fantastic job connecting with the local community.
They have a loyal following, but this is Gary Ablett.
It will be interesting to see how frequently the Suns and Titans share fixture times on a Friday or Saturday night or a Sunday afternoon.
The crowd figures will also be intriguing.
Logic would suggest that the AFL would want to give the Suns some clean air to work in, but AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou and Travis Auld, his counterpart at the Suns, have already shown they’re not afraid to make bold moves.
Maybe Gold Coast United, the struggling A-League outfit, should play away from home for the first two months and stay out of the inevitable cross fire.
Given Ablett’s move their crowds may drop from two men and a dog to just the dog.
It’s amazing how successfully the AFL has, intentionally or not, hijacked what was meant to be NRL Grand Final week.
While it still is, at times, it’s hard to tell.
First there was James Hird returning to his throne at Essendon, but this time in the form of coach and not captain. Mark Thompson telling Geelong he needed a break from coaching the Cats, for now, was next. Finally, the announcement the Australian sports community already knew about, but desperately wanted confirmation of.
The NRL decider won’t get our undivided attention until Sunday morning.
But back to the AFL’s specific assault on the Gold Coast. It should bring out the best in the Titans as a club. Community programs, fan engagement, marketing and promotion will all need to be spot on.
The Suns and the AFL will spare no expense to ensure its newest club gains popularity in south-east Queensland.
The battle has begun and both sides will ultimately survive, but one army will be stronger than the other.
Who that will be in 10-years time is anyone’s guess.
You can follow luke on twitter @luke_doherty and on Sky News Australia.
Mike ravesky
Guest
Oikee, you may wanna run your posts through a spell check, people on here might begin to think league people are uneducated or something....'s just a crazy idea. In terms of the whole afl coverage vs league coverage thing, The league people always resort to the old line that afl is just a Melbourne game, only played in victoria etc etc. That's simply not true and it's important to understand that. The reality is that afl is huge in not just victoria, but also Tasmania, south australia, western Australia, northern territory. I have lived in wa and Victoria and I would say that afl football is bigger in wa. So to say it's just a melboure sport is maybe convenient, but simply not true. Australian football Is also the dominant sport in southern and far western NEw south wales - the riverina, broken hill for example - It also has a strong presense in south east queensland, particulary in the gold coast area. Geographically perhaps 75 per cent of the area of Australia is afl territory. Not only that but even in the rugby league heartlands the afl still has a presence all the way from grass roots level to strong afl level clubs. This is something rugby league, despite all the hot air comments about how its on a par with the afl and deserves the same amount of tv rights money as the afl etc simply cannot claim. The nil have zero grassroots support or interest in the 75 per cent of Australia that is afl heartland.
Redb
Roar Guru
Yep, the first 4 of the top 5 programs this year are AFL.
Anthony
Guest
Looks like NRL are back to their position of being 2nd to AFL...even incl all those Qld/NSW reginal TV stations!!
Westcoast929406
Guest
Getting back to the Suns and their future hopes and plans. Apparently G Ablett signing on has started a surge in memberships -About 700 fans signed up within one day of the announcement. Also the term new sponsors is being thrown around quite a bit. All of the fans - Over 10,000 now - who have signed up this year will have to re sign in 2011. This years signing with a fee of $70 is an "intent" to join to get priority access to special 2011 membership benefits. (Full Membership Packages) It is likely all of them are committed AFL fans - It is way too early for converts up there, although the curiosity factor may bring some on board. As always these threads drift off topic however to keep in with that trend --- A report came in this week from the 10 club Aussie Rules League located in Ontario Canada -Est 1989 - This league has expanded and contracted over the years without much external support. It now has 2 Divisions albeit the second division is very small. A wealthy expat in Ontario has now got involved and he hopes to take it gradually from a "beer league to semi pro". His first move was to fund a Dev guy to get into the schools to join the Leagues own dev guy.. Small moves indeed but it is a start. If everything pans out and the expat is true to his word we will have within 15 years a semi pro league up and going. If it takes 20 yrs so be it - It will not take 100 years as predicted by the naysayers on this forum. Finally the Western Sydney move into the ACT requiring 5000 to sign up with $50 has now reached 4220 with a few days to go. The original deadline of Sep 30 extended to Oct 14. Will they make it that is the question.
beaver fever
Guest
Exaccccary, in responce to it's previous post.
Paul Roberton
Guest
In its second season. 1999.
Youi
Guest
Just as original as your " NSWRL, sorry, NRL" comment a few posts ago.
Matt_S
Roar Pro
The Suns members pay $40. Not too much more than social club memberships. Wait till the ticketed memberships come out. The Gold Coast has been one of the worst affected areas due to the GFC and has taken longer to get over it.
beaver fever
Guest
Your comment, that Australian football was the "Melbourne game", was original ? !!.
Australian Football
Roar Guru
Norm, good luck to Easts on Sunday. I shall be watching (Rabbitoh's supporter)---a sellout crowd and better TV ratings then the Aussie Rules is always good news in my opinion..
Norm
Guest
I'm not bothered by you using that term but it does illustrate your dependence on copying my ideas rather than having an original one of your own.
bill baxter
Guest
I don't think that when NRL and AFL games clash in Melbourne (and there are even 2 AFL games occasionally), there is a huge impact on the NRL crowd. There could be 60,000 at the MCG, but Storm would be close to maintaining its average crowd of say 12-14000. This suggests that there is very little evidence that people do support both codes. I also believe that the Rebels wil not attract many AFL supporters and the few potential RU supporters who currently support the Storm may continue to do so as there would be no clashes. I feel that the Rebels could attract the curious (those who can't comprehend that there are 2 Rugby codes) and the few who can enjoy both codes, but would rely heavily on the diehard Union types who may be lucky enough to recognize the names of most of the players. Having said that it is likely that the Rebels need not fear any clashes with the AFL and could draw reasonable crowds should the quality of football and the results go its way.
beaver fever
Guest
So has the Sydney/Wigan game it appears.
Norm
Guest
-"yes to a club outside Australia"...not in the next 20 yrs...not in the next 200 yrs.
Norm
Guest
The Melbourne game's got plenty to think about - http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/nrl-races-ahead-in-tv-viewers-stakes-20100930-15z9t.html
oikee
Guest
There is that 20 years i keep hearing about. I made a prediction for 20 years, i just gave one for 12 years. I have said that the AFL will be a feeder comp for the other codes. So any player worth his salt, will be picked up by one of the international codes. That is a 20 year prediction. If your around in 10 years, i will see how i am looking. :) Just read a post redb, your mate Masters, he reckons you are 20 million veiwers behind rugby league already, and you needed a extra grand final just to make you stay in touch with rugby league, the powerhouse sport, yet to be televised live to southerners. ;) You want to see a Grand FINAL, watch this Sunday, see how a international sport does it. ;) Dum de dee, dum de dar. Then we have the 4 nations for our international growth, you want to see power athletes, ? Not for the faint hearted after watching last years event. :) Where are they sending this guy, Perth Redb. . :) Oh the Draft, another rusted on idea the AFL wont change, :) Or will they.
bee
Guest
Who are the ignorant fools thinking afl isn't a global game ....It's starting to get recognised and played overseas..just wait 5 to 10 years for a few draft pics overseas then eventually a team ... My team in Japan www.osakadingoes.com the japanese players are very quick ..there is one guy from tokyo that had a run with the essendon bombers a few years back and in the future there will be more ....
Anthony
Guest
The Swans v C/wood game at ANZ has usually (always?) been on the last Saty night in June. Not too hard for NRL to know that....unless they don'l think it should be a concern for their scheduling!
macavity
Guest
The only reason I (or the majority of my mates) even know who Garry Ablett is, is because a mate is his doppelganger - as pointed out by the token Victorian Rules follower in our group. Somehow I don't think the Titans are really that worried about some Victorian that most people north of the Murray couldn't pick out in a line up.
Redb
Roar Guru
Best tested footballer at the AIS draft camp this week is a Queenslander from the Gold Coast.