It takes much more than a million-dollar contract to recruit players in order to build a successful football club.
As the football world’s beliefs have been confirmed, the foundations upon which the Gold Coast Suns and Greater Western Sydney have been built are unstable.
Within the past decade proud Victorian clubs such as Melbourne, Hawthorn, Footscray, North Melbourne and Richmond have struggled to keep afloat, both on and off the field.
Despite being proud, traditional clubs with loyal fan-bases these clubs were outright struggling to exist.
Yet each club respectively had board members to stand up and ensure that they remained financially stable.
Some have since delivered some sort of on-field success.
North Melbourne President James Brayshaw was an extreme advocate for his club, getting all North members on board to boost the club financially.
He kept them coming to the games, doing his utmost to ensure crowd numbers for home games remained respectable.
While North Melbourne are not by any means a financial powerhouse in the AFL they have come a long way since a few years ago.
Their facilities have improved, their list management is better and relocation talks have been put to rest.
The same story goes for Melbourne and Richmond.
While neither have experienced great on-field success – and both have had their fair share of controversies – both clubs are in a much better financial position than they were a few years ago.
So the one question that has been niggling for two years is, if there were clubs already struggling in the AFL then exactly how was bringing two new AFL teams into the competition going to eradicate this?
A few years on and we now have 18 teams in the competition, which also means approximately 100 new players in the AFL, excluding the new draft picks from the previous year who went to clubs elsewhere.
Furthermore, there are more run-of-the-mill players coming through the AFL ranks than ever before, to allow for the two new team lists.
This all equates to less authentic AFL-standard talent.
There are more recycled players lured by a hefty pay cheque. There are more non-contracted players being hunted from other clubs. There are more completely lopsided matches, week in, week out.
There is now a struggle to keep substantial crowds coming in for Gold Coast or Greater Western Sydney games.
The biggest concern of all remains these clubs’ ability to take uncontracted players from other teams in the competition.
Admittedly, players have always moved clubs for money.
The only difference from the past, in terms of attracting players from other clubs, is that back then players moved for both the money and the opportunity to experience success.
They knew it would make the move worth more than just the dollar value.
Can you imagine if Fremantle were given a great deal of cash back in their humble beginnings, trying to lure Brownlow medallist James Hird from Essendon?
Wouldn’t have happened.
These days, however, the two new clubs on the block have the money and the questionable right to offer the big bucks to uncontracted players from all over the league.
This, despite them likely to be sitting comfortably at the bottom of the ladder for some time to come in two non-Aussie-Rules states.
The re-signing of Tiger Brett Deledio for five years and Magpie Scott Pendlebury for a four-year contract at their respective clubs has put many speculating critics back in their place.
Players already know that a move to either Gold Coast or GWS is not going to be a fast road to success.
Perhaps now they’re realising that the hardships each club is set to face for a long time to come far outweigh the allure of the extra money.
It will be a true testament to the character of the non-contracted players as to who is enticed by cash and who remains a loyal clubman, in this greedy day and age of our game.
The AFL has encouraged and supported these two new teams endlessly.
Now the football world is left to simply ponder why the AFL has become so money driven and in turn oblivious to the struggles that these two teams will face for a substantial amount of time.
Hawthorn, Footscray (now Western Bulldogs), North Melbourne, Melbourne and Richmond were only able to survive via the loyal, passionate diehards of each respective club.
Without that network of support who knows where these clubs would be.
While the AFL can inject all the money, advertising and support into these new clubs, unfortunately clubs supporters’ loyalty and generosity are not buyable assets.
While this has been the inevitable situation for over a year now, it is becoming alarmingly apparent that the rush to get these clubs into the AFL was a botched one, built on a money-driven expansion plan.
If only the AFL had thought about the true assets that build the foundations of a football club.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
Blacktown was more a one off while the Showgrounds are still getting developed. I think the next two home games are at Manuka and then they're ready to play at the Showgrounds. As for teams losing money, during up periods, teams make money and during down periods, they lose money. 15 years ago Collingwood were broke and losing money. Today, after five grand final appearances, and 1 premiership, they have 70,000 members and bring in about $75 million in revenue each year. Similarly, Carlton were making losses about six years ago, this year, they are looking at a $2 million profit. Hawthorn is swimming in money as they get close to 60,000 members. Port Adelaide consistently sells 32,000+ memberships. Once they move to Adelaide Oval, expect that to rise, and they'll get back to a better trading position. North continues to looks for opportunities to increase its membership base.
Queensland's Game is Rugby League
Guest
"I remember going to a North Melb v Adelaide game at Carrara in 2007, driving around and listening to the radio it was apparent that the GC people already wanted to claim the Kangaroos as their own." I recall Demetriou throwing a tantrum a few years ago because the Titans played on the same night that the North Melbourne were playing at Carrara. Under 10,000 people bothered to turn up to the AFL match, while the Titans drew 26,000 fans through the gates. http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2008/06/30/13070_gold-coast-sport.html Rugby league is the dominant sport on the Gold Coast. A quick search on Google revealed that in 2008 there were 4.485 juniors playing rugby league on the Gold Coast, compared to just 1.936 for AFL. http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2008/07/26/14200_gold-coast-sport.html
Queensland's Game is Rugby League
Guest
Hi Bludger, How are North Melbourne and Port Adelaide going? Still losing money? I see the Brisbane Lions made another massive loss in 2011. The AFL might be in a far stronger position than the NRL, but it has its fair share of problems. The AFL might be successful with the Suns. There's a lot of ex-pats living on the Gold Coast to support the team. They have a good stadium and recruited well. GWS is a real concern, in my opinion. The team appears to have been rushed together too quickly. The Blacktown oval is not AFL standard. I cannot see too many people wanting to go sit on a hill so they can watch a hastily rushed together team get belted by 100 points.
stu
Guest
mate.....don't want to start a debate about soccer/RL. OK grass routes soccer is definatley stronger that RL on the coast, however neither translates into good crowd figures relative to the professional status of either code. As for AFL.....it will survive but the crowds will be refective of the same poor form of he other codes.
stu
Guest
Bludger....not sure why this thing about 'soccer/football' keeps on going round and round. Who is telling you to call it football? The governing body calls it football, the odd traditionalist wants you to call it football. For me, as I am a lover of soccer really don't care either way. AFL/NRL/ARU use the term football as well. I think most people are creating a situation that does not exist. So at the end of the day we call all codes football, and when it needs to be specific AFL/NRL/ARU/A-League!!
Republican
Guest
I hope it does run dry since we in the nations capital will continue to be expediently manipulated to further the AFL's commercial criteria to expand - next to NZ where Saint Kilda are already talkng up 4 games per season in Wellington v opposition of the calibre of Essendon and Collingwood. As for the nations capital - we will continue to be insulted with appeasments i.e.GWS.
Republican
Guest
To be sure Ian, it's all about pay tv. This is the only criteria that counts, which just goes to show you how much influence those engineers of illusion, the promoters of te commercial farce, command these days, across all facets of our daily prosaic lives.
The_Wookie
Roar Guru
Ill be watching it and throwing things at my tv
St.Kilda4evr
Guest
Good on em. If I wasn't a saints fan, I'd be a whorks fan.
Jaceman
Guest
Noice- almost 100 years to the day as well. Maybe the iceberg was bought by his mates but maybe there will be a bigger one on April 20 when the Qld Court looks at winding up the property arm..
cos789
Guest
The NRL isn't on shaky ground. The Knights have some pretty big firewalls between themselves and the Jets. The members of the Knights get to buy the whole club and its assets back for $1 if Tinkler tries this kind of thing. The Titans aren't down the gurgler - there are two groups with $20M and $35M respectively waiting like vultures for Michael Searles property assets to force him out. The Sharks problems are now pretty much sorted, but hey bring up old news and hope its relevant right? The club that I think is in most trouble atm is Penrith. But the NRL is likely to get $1.2B TV deal as was published in the SMH / Age today. Things are going pretty good.
Jason
Guest
I have lived on the Gold Coast my entire life and being a neutral party to the whole AFL VS NRL debate, your statement that the GC is more an AFL area is a flat out lie and just plain rediculous. The area is rugby league mad you just need to go the the schools and watch what game they play at lunch to see that, or look at the footy tipping comps in work places. what’s so Queenslandish about GC? You've got to be joking, you can't possibly be a born and bred Queenslander
super G
Guest
Nice. What about the "Gold Coast Titanic"? I'm surprised no one in the mainstream media has come up with that one yet.
mds1970
Roar Guru
Eddiesummers, it comes down to what articles get submitted. If every article that gets submitted this week is about GWS, then that's what gets published. The editors can only select the articles that have been written; and if no-one's written about other topics then they don't get on the site. I haven't submitted any articles this week, but I expect I'll do one after Sunday - when I'll be at Blacktown for the GWS Giants v West Coast game. There's a tab on the top right of the screen "Write for The Roar". If you have any ideas of what articles should be on here, get to your keyboard and write them. The editors here are good with getting articles online within a day or so. The Carlton v Collingwood game tonight should be a ripper - especially the midfield battle of Judd and Murphy against Swan and Pendlebury. I'll be doing The Roar's live blog of that game, so log onto this site from 7:30 tonight and add your thoughts as the game unfolds.
Maximus
Guest
The NRL said that GWS would be the AFL's Vietnam - who would of thought that the GC Titans would be the NRL's Gallop-oli...
Eddiesummers
Guest
Sick of these almost daily articles on The Roar about if GC and GWS can survive. Surely some of the hype of collingwood v Carlton, the kangaroos not having beaten a top 4 side in the past 3 seasons, Adelaide's challenge this weekend etc can be reported! Come on editors a bit of variety when it comes to selecting your limited afl stories. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
mds1970
Roar Guru
They went perilously close to merging with Melbourne in 1996; but it's been all rivers of gold for the Hawks ever since.
Australian Rules
Guest
Ahh Freo...my favourite is them giving up the draft picks to Hawthorn (incl. the No.1 pick) Hawthorn got Hodge and Mitchell, Freo got Trent Croad and McPharlin. Croad was average at Freo and would eventually return to the Hawks to help them win at Premiership from Centre Half Back.
Australian Rules
Guest
On the board of WCE
mds1970
Roar Guru
"Can you imagine if Fremantle were given a great deal of cash back in their humble beginnings, trying to lure Brownlow medallist James Hird from Essendon? Wouldn’t have happened." That wasn't Freo's strategy. But at the time the Dockers were formed, they did do a deal with Essendon, with the Bombers giving four players to the Dockers in exchange for the number one draft pick, allowing Essendon to sign Matthew Lloyd. Of those four players, Dale Kickett was a useful part of Freo's side for many years, but the other three soon disappeared without trace; while Lloyd took time to develop and had injury problems early, but became a superstar. Lloyd only played two games in the season after the trade was done, but in the long term there's no doubt Essendon were the winners out of that trade. During trade week, plenty of clubs were offering multiple experienced players to the Giants to get Jonathan Patton's draft pick; but the Giants weren't interested in trading. Time will tell whether the Giants made the right call.