Collingwood president Eddie McGuire’s latest complaint about the northern state expansion clubs academies, combined with Western Bulldogs chairman Peter Gordon’s recent attack on the Sydney Swans, has exposed an ugly culture within the AFL.
The academies, put in place by the AFL in New South Wales and Queensland, are just the tip of the iceberg in a long list of complaints growing by the season.
If it is not the academies, it is the salary cap concessions, if it is not the salary cap concessions; it is the so-called ‘soft draws’.
For the last 18 months, the Sydney Swans have been relentlessly targeted for signing Kurt Tippett and Lance Franklin on the back of winning the 2012 premiership.
Clubs don’t sign big-name players on the back of winning premierships – well, not if the club has a cost of living allowance, and that’s the problem. If the Swans didn’t have a COLA, would there still have been a problem?
McGuire’s comments about the academies, as quoted by the Herald Sun‘s Jon Ralph, indicate there will always be problems as long as long as clubs from non-traditional AFL states exist.
“I am red hot on this, this is going to impact on every Victorian and South Australian and West Australian club.
“We have given NSW and Queensland four academies where they can go and get players and hide them away and train them from 12 years of age.
“We have to get back to giving the game back to the supporter base and back to Victorian football which has been drained right through the last period of time.”
Since when has the rugby league and union dominant states of New South Wales and Queensland been a hotbed of Australian Football talent?
How can it be the AFL’s heartland states (Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia) are not able to produce local talent? And what about Tasmania?
It seems problems only arise once clubs from non-tradtional states start winning premierships, inadvertently creating a negative image for the game in NSW and Queensland. This negative image has been developing over the last 13 years, and it is rapidly making a farce of the AFL’s attempt to become a truly national competition.
The Magpies boss has form, as he was the main driver behind the Brisbane Lions losing their salary cap and draft concessions during their three-peat era.
The Lions are now, once again, on the brink of becoming a basket case, and it’s time the game’s governing bodies stepped in and set out a clear agenda of what they hope to achieve with expansion.
How can the AFL allow Victorian club presidents to continue to bully and attack expansion clubs, and not expect it to have a negative impact, especially when two Victorian club bosses are prominent in the AFL media?
How can new AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan tolerate the game being seen as belonging to Melbourne or the traditional states only? Never mind the sour grapes attached to the Lions and the Swans winning premierships, how about the growing impression there is no place in the game for a team in Sydney or Queensland, and that Tasmania should have had a team before the Gold Coast or Greater Western Sydney?
McGuire’s comments make a mockery of Port Adelaide chairman David Koch saying interstate clubs need to remind Melbourne that there is no V in the AFL.
Koch is frustrated the Power are not getting the recognition they deserve in Melbourne, however he cannot pretend his club has the same challenges as those in Sydney or Queensland.
McLachlan only needs to listen to the noise being made over the Sydney Swans, and the previous noise about the Brisbane Lions, to get an idea of what the noise will be like once the Gold Coast Suns or the Greater Western Sydney Giants win premierships.
The AFL needs to change this image if it believes in its mission of becoming a truly national competition.
andyl12
Guest
The Grand Final might be moved interstate when another state builds a stadium as good as the MCG. The Grand Final, like any major sporting event, is a corporate event and an event of national significance, and therefore its venue needs to be worked out well in advance. Don't expect them to play a Grand Final at the Gabba when only 30,000 people would show up.
Momentbymoment
Guest
You are right. The Grand Final is played in Melbourne which strongly tips the scales in favour of Victorian clubs. It will never be an equal competition. COLA just helped to make it an equitable competition.
andyl12
Guest
I think most Victorians support the idea of a national competition. But they are able to draw a distinction between creating a national competition and helping one or two particular clubs. I am no fan of Eddie McGuire but anyone who thinks he's wrong about COLA needs their head read- COLAs do not exist in any other industry and if you have to have a COLA then you have to apply it across the board- Perth's cost of living has gone through the roof as a result of the mining boom but you don't hear Richard Colless mentioning this. No issues with the new expansion clubs getting extra draft picks, my issue is that if these sides don't win premierships in the next five years then their management will ask for more. Based on an argument that life is tough in their states.
andyl12
Guest
Warren- you will find it is the opposite. Canberra Raiders constantly lose players to the Sydney sides who get lured by the better weather and beachside lifestyle of many Sydney clubs. Most footballers are on enough money that Bondi rent prices are chicken feed for them. Remember that some people can afford to rent in Sydney on the minimum wage.
Warren Cooper
Roar Guru
Where would the AFL be without expansion in to NSW and QLD, in particular, Sydney, the biggest and toughest sporting market in Australia? Your comment highlights exactly what Leigh Matthews said a couple of weeks ago, "People in AFL land think they know what it is like in NSW and QLD, but they don't really. The VFL ceased to be in 1990. And easy draws? Haven't top 4 and traditional AFL teams been losing to the new expansion clubs lately? And you're assumptions are wrong on a number of levels. The first one, everyone who lives in NSW and QLD follows rugby league. The second one, NSW and QLD, as well as the ACT, have never produced top quality AFL talent. What about the names of Alex Jesaulenko, Wayne Carey, Paul Kelly, the Daniher brothers, Billy Brownless, Jason Dunstall, James Hird, John Longmire, Lenny Hayes, Justin Koschitzche, Nick Riewoldt, Isaac Smith, Taylor Walker, Luke Breust, Tom Hawkins ... the list is actually longer than this. NSW did defeat Victoria in a State of Origin match in 1990. The third one, the AFL has been spoon-feeding clubs from non-traditional states at the expense of clubs in traditional states. How has the Western Bulldogs been able to survive without its $3 million a year assistance from the AFL? And what about Port Adelaide, didn't the Power the receive a $14 million rescue package in 2011? The fourth one, the AFL should not grow the game in Sydney and Queensland, and that clubs in those states should not have the opportunity to grow and nuture their own talent, and be able to pick them up if they can under a father and son / academies rule. Don't tell me clubs in traditional states don't do this, when they have deep historical grassroots to be able to draw from? Are not the Wallabies a national team which competes internationally against other nations who have historically played rugby union?
thecat
Guest
What a load of rubbish!! The draft system is their already which penalizes the more successful clubs in favor of the less successful. Any team, be they Victorian or anywhere else will only get true recognition from the football community when they are seen to win based on ability and not because of favoritism in draft pick concessions, home games, easy draws or increased salary caps for whatever reason. As much as I believe SA,WA and Tasmania should be in the competition I do not believe that traditonal Rugby league states should be spoon fed to legitimise calling the AFL a National competition. The AFL states have a legitimate right to be in the competition, after all, they fed the VFL with many great and talented players over the years too numerous to name at the detriment of their own state competitions. The AFL must never forget that the success and survival of our great indigenous game will be due to the support of the traditional football states not NSW and QLD. We only have to look to Rugby unions "National" team to see the farce in the word "National"
Australian Football Fan
Guest
To right. Expansion clubs should get salary cap extensions for (short) while while there finding there feet, but it should end there. It's not fair for some clubs to be allowed spend more money and such things for no reason, and it makes a mockery of the competition.
TW
Guest
This article sums it all up really and includes Eddiies comments The Victorians are worried that their beloved game is slipping away for a while and was written by a Melbourne journo. All Clubs agreed to the 2 new clubs being added which included draft priorities etc and now it does not suit them in Melbourne. http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/victorian-clubs-drowning-as-tidal-wave-of-interstate-clubs-line-up-for-premierships-20140628-zspj5.html
Rob
Guest
Fair point Dalgety, and I did mention in my initial post that the Suns and Giants could benefit from having first rights to a player, however you can hardly call Sydney and Brisbane an expansion side. I think interest in the game is more so determined by performances on field rather than where players come from. Look at the hysteria around Buddy and the packed stadium against Port as an example. That's due to performances, and not "local" talent, as was the increased interest when Syd and Bris were winning premierships.
The_pedge
Guest
Eddie is delusional. Victorians love saying that Aussie rules is the biggest sport in this country but as soon as things don't go their way they automatically make it an us against them mentality. The northern states desperately need locals playing on their lists to spark more interest I. The game. The VFL decided to become the AFL. They cannot chose to be truly national when it suits them. Hope your up for the fight Eddie. I can't see you getting your way as easilly this time. You flog.
dave
Guest
A lot of talk about what Eddie said. Last year he said that Adam Goodes would be good to promote the King Kong theatre.
Dogs Of War
Roar Guru
No they don't. Their is nothing similar to COLA in the NRL. What Melbourne get is more money to develop the game, but that's because the Storm really are the VIC RL body. The Storm is expected to develop the game in Melbourne, which is a problem in itself. A lot of the COLA stuff should be negated by the fact that their is more opportunity to get sponsorship deals in a less crowded market outside the salary cap. That's what clubs like the Lions haven't tapped into very well, while clubs like the Swans do a very good job of it.
Johnk
Guest
C'mon Slane come up with some FACTS! And not just 2 or 3 gun players. You're losing credibility by the moment......
Johnk
Guest
Oooooohhhhh Slane, Warren's got you there!
Dalgety Carrington
Guest
Eddie is to equalisation, as multi-millionaire coal magnates are to environmentalism.
Judy Atu
Guest
Proof positive Eddie is an idiot
Dalgety Carrington
Guest
You get more locals in the NSW or Qld teams and they're seen as more native rather than a foreign novelty, where support is less dependent on the win/loss ratio. Plus you need to give a little to get a little (i.e. more concessions to the expansion teams now = more benefits from the expansion states for everybody down the track).
Rob
Guest
What has that got to do with it Dalgety? I've said numerous times that the academies are a great idea to promote the game and build talent in states where Aussie Rules is not the traditional sports.
Dalgety Carrington
Guest
Have you no idea of what expansion is about Rob?
Dalgety Carrington
Guest
Absolutely, you've got Collingwood, Essendon, Adelaide, Hawthorn & West Coast in the rich clubs camp. A bunch in the middle-class, with Geelong, Richmond, Carlton (funnily enough) and Freo amongst others. Then the poorer clubs in Bulldogs, Melbourne, North, Lions etc. It seems that the richer clubs are subverting the agenda to their own selfish ends.