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When the AFL successfully poached Israel Folau and Karmichael Hunt from rugby league, the NRL clubs poured fuel all over the publicity fire.
AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou barely needed to spend a dollar on marketing, as everyone else ensured the robbery of two of the NRL’s best players received significant column space by talking about it for weeks.
It’s a mistake they’re still making today.
Every time someone talks about ‘the threat to rugby league in the west’ it reminds people that the GWS Giants actually exist.
Now, the AFL is staring down the barrel of a similar situation.
The Brisbane Bombers aren’t even in the NRL yet, but their AFL namesake Essendon is falling into the same trap.
Prior to yesterday’s launch, Essendon officials were already up in arms that 130 years of history was somehow going to be ruined by upstarts from the north.
Talk of legal action against Craig Davison and his team in Brisbane earned column space in most of the newspapers around the country and ran on just about every television network.
Oops.
Silence would’ve been the better course of action.
Why does Essendon care about a rugby league franchise that may never see the light of day?
Okay, so there’s a better than average chance that the Brisbane Bombers will be the first side admitted to the NRL when expansion is given the green light, but until then you could’ve bet your last dollar that no-one in AFL land would’ve cared about them.
Now it seems they’re enemy number one.
How will Essendon supporters ever know what to do on game day?
You can just see the confused masses turning up to Etihad Stadium or the MCG in a Brisbane Bombers jersey only to realise their mistake.
Any further action would have to come from the AFL anyway, as they own the intellectual property of the clubs such as names, logos and colours.
That seems unlikely.
If anyone does, Andrew Demetriou knows better than to give this story more air.
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