I’m not writing this to say that the AFL is going to take over Queensland, but even the most pessimistic AFL follower would have to be pleased with developments on the Gold Coast in recent times.
With less than a month until the official AFL pre-season starts, it’s worth taking a glance at the position of the newest club in the AFL fraternity, the Gold Coast Suns, and evaluate their readiness for the times soon to pass.
Here’s a brief summary of what’s gone on.
The AFL has come under some vitriol from within its own ranks and considerably more from people outside of its supporter base, who believed – and still believe – that a Gold Coast-based AFL club simply cannot work. After all, you can’t do market research and create a club from scratch.
The concept had its share of doubters. They are all about to be proved wrong.
They’ve got supporters, and more they have members. In fact, surprising many, the club website claims nearly 10,000 members. Not 10,000 foundation members (that target was reached in September 2010), but 10,000 full membership paying persons.
This compares favourably with local rival, the NRL’s Titans, with almost 7000 members – and several years headstart (and with that said, it’s worth noting that until recently membership wasn’t an NRL priority). It compares well with other established AFL clubs, including state rival the Lions (14,000) and North Melbourne (15,000).
The Suns have spent the years entrenching themselves into the Gold Coast. Like the Titans before them, this can only help increase support for the club.
Surprisingly perhaps, the Gold Coast get reasonable coverage in local media. The Gold Coast Bulletin runs regular updates on the club’s progress, all of which seem to be favourable.
Club officials have appeared on local radio and television. It quite possibly hasn’t hurt that Travis Auld and Guy McKenna haven’t gone out to try and start a code war with the Titans or United. If anything, the atmosphere is quite peaceful compared to what GWS will expect next year between nine NRL clubs and a feisty Kevin Sheedy.
With the AFL backing it all the way, the Suns are as well sponsored as any other team in the AFL. HostPlus have been a major sponsor since 2009, and Virgin came on board towards the end of 2010.
They also benefit from the backing of the Southport Sharks QAFL club – one of the most profitable clubs outside of the AFL itself. It passed its sponsorship benchmark (one major, 10 secondary and 100 tertiary sponsors) in October 2008.
Administration wise, it’s apparent that the AFL sought out the best and brightest it could get.
Former Brisbane chief Graham Downie, Southport director Allan Mckenzie and John Witheriff have done a sterling job to date putting together the team, including Travis Auld as CEO and Guy McKenna, the champion former West Coast dual premiership player.
The team’s good establishment goes beyond administration to the playing list. Not only did they snare a player many regard as the best in the league in Gary Ablett, they then loaded up the inexperienced team with some handy and experienced players – more than most expected.
In addition, they’ve managed to draft some of the best players in the junior leagues, ensuring the team continues to develop together. In addition, there are 16 players from Queensland currently on the playing list for the Suns – that’s one-third of the 48-man squad.
Not bad for what is considered rugby league heartland (and not to be snide, but how many Victorians have played or even been recruited for the Storm after since 1997?).
Having obviously learned from the Bears’ establishment, the club will be based and play out of Cararra when it’s complete, thanks to funding from the Queensland Government, the Gold Coast Council and the AFL.
For mine, 25,000 is the perfect size for the new club, at a ground controlled by the AFL, and not subject to the needs and demands of other codes at this time.
Crowds are going to be hard to gauge – the Bears experience not comparable for a wide variety of reasons, and more recent matches featuring a variety of North and Melbourne matches have had mixed results. The VFL match in Cairns attracted thousands of people, and a full fledged AFL match versus Richmond will be played there this year.
The team’s success has continued at the TAC level, where they played finals in 2009, defeating the Northern Knights in an elimination final. Then in 2010, at VFL level, the Suns finished 10th (out of 14) with six wins and a draw, against clubs which more or less serve as AFL reserves.
Their next test is the NAB Cup, where they travel to Blacktown on February 19 to play the brand new GWS Giants and the original expansion team, the Sydney Swans.
There’s still a lot of work to be done on the Gold Coast, but at the same time it’s important to note that these guys are ready to go. I’m a lifelong Carlton supporter, but as a Queenslander, it’s hard to not get excited about the Suns.
It’s time to sit back and watch the Suns rise.
MyLeftFoot
Roar Guru
Karmichael is absolutely itching to debut: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/karmichael-hunts-itching-to-play-afl/story-e6frf9jf-1226001750594
MyLeftFoot
Roar Guru
GWS are a big hit at the Sydney Telstra 500: http://www.gwsgiants.com.au/team-gws-revs-up-the-v8s.html
MyLeftFoot
Roar Guru
Never fear people, I know it's been a long wait, but the footy season is nearly here. Dream team and Supercoach are now open for business and that means the Coaches Box is back: http://aflspace.com/2011/02/02/live-coaches-box-returns-tonight-222011-for-another-season/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AFLSpace+%28AFL+SPACE+-+An+AFL+News+and+Podcast+%29 be patient! the wait is almost over!
Moonface
Roar Guru
I live on the NSW north coast and I will be making the trip up to the Gold Coast occasionally [and Brisbane] to see the odd footy game. But there isn't that much interest in the AFL up here at all and I'd be very surprised if the Suns average more than 10K to any game.
OzFootballSherrin
Roar Pro
Really good doco on ABC1 tonight, 'Three Boys Dreaming". Gives a really good insight into the issues (positive, negative, human aspect) around indigenous kids coming through the ranks.
Westcoast929406
Guest
Off Topic --- The article above is about the Gold Coast Suns who are based in Southern Queensland while events in Northern Queensland are moving in the right direction. The AFL effort up there is focused on Cairns which has first class facilities and thriving jumior comps. With regular AFL matches scheduled up there into the future interest in the game will grow. Readers will be aware that the new NEAFL comps commence soon. It appears that according to the article below the NEAFL Northern Conference will likely be joined by a team from Cairns in 2012 - This is excellent news if true. Of course those of us who follow the international aspect - A team from PNG will be next obvious cab off the rank to join the NEAFL. The benefits of that move are obvious. Link-- http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2011/02/01/147105_local-sport-news.html Just to add quickly GWS hoping to sell 10,000 tickets for their opening NAB Cup matches - The NRL have fixtured directly in Western Sydney against this event now according to the media today.
mick h
Guest
memberships are important in the nrl these days, memberships are currently up 30% compared to last season. the nrl and clubs have been pushing memberships for the past 3 seasons yes nowhere near the afl but continue to grow.
mick h
Guest
a lot of people don't use facebook including myself so using those figures to compare footy teams is not accurate at all.
OzFootballSherrin
Roar Pro
there was another article a couple of weeks back where Hunt talked about his time at the Broncos "'Even in my early days with the Broncos, I wanted to do things a bit differently. I didn't pigeon-hole myself to stereotypical full-back duties. I wanted to kick with both feet, tackle like a forward, run up like a forward and ball play like a No. 7. So I stayed behind after training to practise everything.'' It kinda illustrates that RL or RU really aren't the games for him, too restrictive. btw - did you see the story today about Jarryd Hayne still contemplating AFL at some stage in the future, reckons it wasn't just a contract bartering tool but that he's really keen to see how Hunt and Folau go and he'd be keen at the end of his new 3 year contract (age 24/25) to look seriously at it.
Jon
Guest
"football has it's own W-league'. Your reply pretty-much sums up what I mean if you havent even taken the time to research your women's sport. Sexist culture includes having scantily-clad women lining the route onto the pitch - waving at their men as they go off to war (sounds Mills and Boon). Half-time entertainment much the same. But football women have their own league and boys and girls walk footballers onto the pitch at the beginning of the match and small-sided games are played at half-time. See the difference in culture?
Republican
Guest
Hutch I believe Cricket has and always has had, a far broader level playing field than League. I reckon your spot on re. Netball however. This is a good analogy and I would maintain the same line of debate with this code as well. Netball is a sudo global code as far as elite competition goes - i.e. to say between NZ V Oz, end of story. This makes it boringly predictable, despite it being a great game to watch.
MyLeftFoot
Roar Guru
He may well do. Yet to be tested at full AFL level. My guess is that this first full season will be one of ongoing transition and familiarity - I don't expect too much just yet.
betamax
Roar Guru
So Hunt can run faster and longer than he did before. Looks like he's got the skill set covered. Easy money.
MyLeftFoot
Roar Guru
A terrific story in the DT about the hard work Hunt has had to put in to re-condition his body to cope with the demands of AFL footy: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/afl/meet-the-afls-project-k/story-e6frexwr-1225996753753 Some quotes: Talking of his debut VFL game: “By the third quarter that day, I was stuffed, absolutely buggered,’’ recalls Hunt without a trace of hubris expected of a man cocky enough to dabble in three codes– NRL, French rugby and AFL – in the space of nine months. “I just couldn’t run anymore. It was the most running I’d ever done and I was gone. The amount of running I did that day was substantially higher than anything I’d done in league. "That was the biggest shock. If I had any question marks on myself changing over, it was whether I would be fit enough to play AFL.’’ A scientific study of Hunt’s physique by the Suns uncovered deficiencies in the former Broncos fullback’s aerobic capacity. In league, Hunt was conditioned to running 6-8km in an 80-minute contest. This season, if he appears in the Suns backline as expected, Hunt will be required to run up to 12km per match. “We found Karmichael’s weakness was his ability to run or continue to run aerobically,’’ explains Robinson. “He had all the speed that we needed, but the ability for him just to continue on and operate with repeat sprints was a problem for him. In essence, we’ve had to add another 50 per cent of Karmichael’s continuous sprinting ability to what he was doing in rugby league. “As a group in the AFL, there’s hardly anyone who is carrying excess weight, they are so lean and fit and that puts the onus on you to follow their lead,’’ Hunt says. “When I came back from France [in May], rugby over there was a different type of training. There was not as much running and it wasn’t as intense, so coming back I was a bit anxious to see what my fi tness levels were. They weren’t too bad, but how I am now, compared to when I arrived back in Australia, I’m a totally different athlete. At the Broncos, he rarely ran for more than 60 minutes at training. Now he regularly runs for two and-a-half hours. In one week alone at the Suns, he churned through 29km over four sessions. “AFL athletes complete a lot more quality and quantity of running compared to rugby league players. Resistance training in AFL circles has taken a different direction since the game has evolved. “Gains in strength and power now are somewhat secondary to preparing players to function well for the running demands of the game and to ensure injuries are minimised. He is certainly one of the better athletes I’ve seen in terms of explosive strength qualities.
Westcoast929406
Guest
Wookie, Your ability to see and write with clarity on the the problems on each topic is remarkable. Apply to the Brisbane newspapers for a job - You will go very well. (All talent should be encouraged) Actually it seems tha AFL Executive asked AFL QLD several seasons ago (About circa 2004) -"How can we help you with footy in QLD"? The answer -" We need another AFL Club up here. That anecdote was posted on the AFL QLD website late in 2010. The rest is history
Dingo
Guest
Back in your box Jimbo!
Dingo
Guest
Vocabulary not something you have been too keen to build Hutch?
Guido
Guest
True, I'm from SA and a Crows supporter. I now live on the Central Coast and go to about 5 Swans games a year to get my AFL fix. I even check out a few Black Diamond games. Crows haven't played a game in Sydney though the last few years, I have to check the draw for this year. Having said that, I am also a member of the Central Coast Bears even though I knew/know nothing about NRL until I arrived 7 years ago. Great game.
hutch
Roar Guru
what a load of crap!
MyLeftFoot
Roar Guru
No. AFL memberships translate into hard cold cash, adding up to an annual figure that's not too far off the annual TV rights revenue of some $156 mill per annum. When people start making up stories about AFL memberships including pets and babies, they are ignoring the hard cold cash that shows up on audited financial statements which are all made publicly available.