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The AFL Commission’s decision to ban the Sydney Swans from trading players until 2017 shows the game’s administrators are completely out of touch with the state of the game in non-traditional AFL states.
It is a completely senseless decision which undermines the AFL’s status in the northern states as a truly national competition.
Why hurt the Swans at a time when the game has never been healthier in the Harbour City?
What are the Swans really being punished for? Being a success? Winning premierships? Having higher membership numbers than any current NRL club? Having a culture which attracted Lance Franklin?
What exactly have they done wrong?
Did they abuse the cost of living allowance to sign Frankiln and Kurt Tippett? How could they, when the AFL oversees the Swans’ usage of the COLA, which must be put on the contract of each player?
Why do it a time when the NRL also finds itself in a resurgent position?
If last Sunday night’s NRL grand final between two of the game’s greatest rivals did not send the AFL a massive wake-up call, then South Sydney Rabbitohs winning the NRL premiership, backed up by the announcement James Packer has bought into the club, should be.
NRL bosses will have seen last Sunday night as a major triumph for a code which has been looking for redemption since the Super League War ended at the end of 1997.
And redemption they found.
They will have greeted the AFL Commission’s decision to hurt the Swans with glee, rubbing their hands together saying, “It used to be us guilty of shooting ourselves in the foot!”
The AFL is flirting with danger rather than progress in Sydney and Queensland.
It is not the first time the AFL has made backflips as a result of moaning from south of the NSW border.
The Brisbane Lions still operate in a world of hurt, and losing the retention allowance – which was blamed for the Lions winning three premierships in a row in the early nougthies – has something to do with it.
Collingwood Magpies president Eddie McGuire was influential then, just as he has been influential about the Swans losing the COLA, and griping over the alleged unfair advantage of having academies.
Heaven forbid the game be a success in Sydney and Queensland, Eddie!
How can the AFL be taken seriously when for the last two years there have been major grumblings coming from Victoria over the Swans, the COLA, and the academies, and then make the hypocritical decision to still allow the Greater Western Sydney Giants to trade, even though they will also lose the COLA as well?
There is a simple reason why the Giants will still be able to trade, the AFL is desperate to make inroads in Western Sydney and trying to save face for a very real and possible disaster, as well as the embarrassing prospect of being chewed up and spat out of Parramatta.
The NRL is making a serious comeback, not just out west, but also in the Harbour City itself.
Rugby league has also been resurgent in Brisbane since the Lions’ last grand final in 2004. Is it merely a coincidence the Lions have been losing members at alarming rates? Meanwhile, the Brisbane Broncos memberships are on the rise, and with mastermind Wayne Bennett back in town, they are likely to soar.
Queensland has been abuzz about rugby league since 2006, the same year the Broncos won their last premiership, and the Queensland State of Origin side began their eight-year dominance over New South Wales. The Lions three-peat success is all but forgotten, buried under the rubble of financial stress, boardroom dramas, and losing talented homesick players.
The traditional code of Sydney and Queensland will always be rugby league. The NRL has a massive war chest, with a monstrous rabbit now the driving force.
As the expansion clubs begin to falter because of consistent Victorian interference, the NRL may well have expanded into Perth.
The AFL has the opportunity to make some serious inroads into New South Wales, with the NRL vulnerable in some of its heartland areas. The North Shore, parts of the Sutherland Shire, Ryde, and as far down as the Illawarra and South Coast have opened windows for the AFL and the Swans put a serious stake in the ground.
But now, why would the Swans bother when they are not getting supported by the AFL, and the game’s governing bodies continues to allow Victorian club bosses to not only carry on like bad sports, but bully the Swans and the other expansion clubs around?
The Swans are right to feel aggrieved, insulted, and frustrated by the AFL Commission’s decision.
It is time the AFL put Victorian club bosses in their place and stood up for the integrity of the national competition, backed its expansion clubs, and took them seriously.
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