The Southport Australian Football Club this year celebrates 60 years of existence and the Sharks are making the early running as the most likely non-Victorian club to give the VFL premiership a real shake.
Foundations
Southport have won 22 flags across the various senior competitions they have joined since 1961, with a sensational clubhouse with 55,000 members (memberships cost $5) and an 8000-seat boutique stadium.
They are hated too. Rival Gold Coast clubs like Labrador Tigers, Broadbeach Cats, Palm Beach Currumbin Lions and Surfers Paradise Demons have their own loyal fans, and they have been watching their teams, from seniors down to juniors, getting done by Southport year after year.
In fact, when GC17 had their license approved for entry into the AFL, it was a ten-year, $10 million patron sponsorship by the Southport Sharks that got the bid across the line. However, when the new franchise did their market research, the result was much like the Port Adelaide experience where the majority of locals thoroughly rejected the idea of the brand of their rival representing their city, so the Suns brand was chosen over the Sharks.
Moving into the Brisbane competition
Back in 1983, having won eight flags in the first 22 seasons of the Gold Coast Australian Football League, the then-Southport Magpies club had its own prison bars clash when it was promoted to join the Brisbane-based Queensland Australian Football League competition, with incumbent Sherwood Magpies also wearing a Collingwood-style jersey.
In the end, the impasse was resolved with a coin toss, which Southport would fatefully lose, which led to the club changing to a white strip with a black vee and changing their mascot to a more suitable Gold Coast-style shark.
However, the newly re-branded Sharks would have the last laugh, winning the QAFL premiership at their first attempt, going on to win 13 QAFL flags across 28 seasons, playing in 21 grand finals.
In this time, while the Sharks had the biggest following in Queensland Australian rules footy, they had by now become the most feared and revered club in the state, envied by their peers for such consistent success and hated by opposition fans from Palm Beach to Redlands and Morningside to Maroochydore.
In this period they produced AFL players Marcus Ashcroft, Steve Lawrence, Nick Riewoldt, Daniel Merrett, Sam Gilbert, Kurt Tippett and Dayne Beams, among dozens of others drafted to AFL teams, although the Suns Academy now runs the elite junior talent and the Sharks get a crack at those who go un-drafted.
Bad news Bears
The introduction of the Brisbane Bears to the Gold Coast market, as well as the growing strength of other local clubs, combined with other factors to almost force the club to withdraw from the QAFL at the end of 1991, but were able to survive due to the success of their leagues club and the introduction of pokies to Queensland.
(Photo by Mark Dadswell/Getty Images)
Far from being good for Gold Coast Australian rules footy, the bad news Bears relocated to Brisbane and continued to cause problems for Southport after they left, writing into their contract when the Gabba was refurbished that any other South-East Queensland applicant into the AFL must play their home games at the Gabba.
The Southport Sharks made a bid to join the AFL at the same time as Port Adelaide in 1996, which at the time was buried in the back of the newspapers as the growing merger dramas engulfed the Australian rules footy media.
Ultimately, Port won the license, and yet if Fitzroy hadn’t merged with Brisbane and did so with North Melbourne, and the Melbourne Hawks merger had become a reality, a place for Southport would have been open with only 15 teams in the bracket to start 1997.
Somewhat ironically, it was another Brisbane Bears snafu that landed the Gold Coast an AFL license, with the six light towers built at Carrara in 1989 but never paid for as Christopher Skase fled the country, which together with the sponsorship of the Sharks gave the GC17 venture the green light.
The NEAFL years
Naturally, when the time came to create a competition encompassing teams from Queensland, New South Wales, Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory, in order to create a second-tier competition for the Suns, Lions, Swans and Giants reserves to play in, Southport were among the first invited. They became foundation NEAFL members, going on to win their first flag in 2018.
After releasing most of their players to QAFL clubs during the cancelled NEAFL season, the Sharks were again in limbo, with funding withdrawn and leagues club revenues down. Their entire future relied on the kind of resilience that has typified the club for its whole existence.
Therefore, the AFL’s invitation to all clubs in the NEAFL to join the VFL represented a silver lining to an awful year.
The Sharks’ form line
Southport Sharks are fourth on the VFL Ladder after handing former NEAFL rivals Aspley Hornets a 109-point drubbing, a week after putting North Melbourne’s reserves to the sword by 107 points.
(Photo by Michael Dodge/AFL Media/Getty Images)
Poor kicking cost the Sharks against the familiar GWS reserves in Round 3, after wins in the first two rounds against Carlton’s reserves and Aspley.
In Round 6, the Sharks face the Suns reserves, then the lowly Northern Bullants, before a Thursday night blockbuster at Port Melbourne.
Why Southport could win the VFL
The club features ten delisted Suns players: captains Seb Tape and Andrew Boston, plus Brayden Crossley, Jesse Joyce, Connor Nutting, Ryan Davis, Leigh Osbourne, Brad Scheer, Jacob Dawson and Mackenzie Willis. They have also recruited delisted Bulldogs Lukas Webb and Billy Gowers, and ex-AFL players Brodie Murdoch, Michael Manteit, and Fraser Thurlow.
It is an impressive group of players, not least because they have all come through the high-performance system and elite pathways, with several players who did not make an AFL list having graduated from the Suns talent academy. They play an exciting brand of footy that will challenge any team they confront, especially since the core of the team has been together for a number of seasons and has added weapons each off-season.
Why they may struggle
The mid-season rookie draft is coming up and although the Melbourne media is obsessed with their echo chamber tidbits, the 18 AFL clubs would be fools not to be running the rule over some of the Sharks players.
Suns delisted player Jacob Dawson is third for disposals and sixth for tackling in the VFL, while fellow ex-Sun Jesse Joyce is finding plenty of footy across half back. He is sixth for disposals overall and he is taking six marks a game.
But the players who will be most in demand are the successful ruck duo of Fraser Thurlow and Goober Crossley. The former is averaging 30-odd hit outs and seven marks a game and the latter is averaging 19 disposals and 15 hit outs, while both have nine goals apiece.
Come what may with the future of the massive VFL competition, with the ACT, NT and Tasmania being forced to endure having no teams in 2021, this might be the Southport Sharks’ only chance at winning a VFL flag.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Subi aren't really well supported in terms of quantity of fans. They're probably the least popular WAFL club in the comp apart from "newbies" Peel
Popavalium Andropoff
Guest
Quite right Micko, you couldn't call an AFL team "Perth" when you have the Perth Demons. On the other hand Subiaco have got plenty of coin and been incredibly successful since the mid 2000's - imagine having them in the AFL.
TomC
Roar Guru
Just insisting that I'm wrong doesn't make it so. The Bears simply didn't write into the agreement that at a second team play their games in Brisbane. The Stafford quote doesn't touch on that point. I don't know what you think their involvement with that part of the agreement was, but it definitely wasn't what you put in the article. It's just not something the Bears would have wanted, nor so far as I can tell were they a party to any agreement that mentioned it. Not that it would have mattered if they were, seeing as it had nothing to do with them. 'You are also wrong about the Commonwealth Games bid being the clinching factor in the funding from the Gold Coast City Council $20 million and Queensland Government $60 million.' I have no idea what you're talking about here. I guess you've misread my post, but how on earth you got this is beyond me. I'm flattered that you'd go back to 2018 to look at a game I blogged. I didn't have anything to do with the picture, but unless someone has changed it overnight that's definitely Jarryd Lyons.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
You're wrong, but you do have part of the story right. The AFL did a deal with the Queensland government, but to suggest that the Brisbane Bears had nothing to do with it is a falsehood. You are also wrong about the Commonwealth Games bid being the clinching factor in the funding from the Gold Coast City Council $20 million and Queensland Government $60 million. The Bligh Government went to the 2009 election with the policy to redevelop Carrara with not only the Suns, but future rugby, soccer and athletics capability. It's the reason they built a 40K capacity with the ability to remove a 15K worth of seating before and after the Commonwealth Games (google it). I had a look at your article about the Suns vs Demons game in 2018. The picture of Jack Leslie is captioned Jarryd Lyons. lol!
Kevo
Roar Rookie
Yep, be good if you did that.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
"When the Gabba was finally refurbished to relocate the Bears to their nominal home, a second set of changerooms was built to house any future south-east Queensland team, with a contractual arrangement demanding that a new Gold Coast enterprise play its "home" games in Brisbane." Andrew Stafford, Brisbane Times, June 4, 2008
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
I have certainly been an advocate of Southport Sharks being the Suns Reserves team, but when the East Coast super comp was announced I actually changed my mind back to having separate teams. As for ownership, I think this is a far more complicated thing than just giving the club to Southport Sharks. Right now it is an AFL owned club, but members are the major stakeholders. There is a notional "transition period" for the Suns to pass out of complete control by the AFL. Members would also be invited to vote and that could get messy.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
Great to hear from a Labrador man. I actually played juniors for the mighty Tigers. I am the same age as Clark and Aaron Keating, who won 4 AFL flags between them. In those days the basketball season overlapped the footy season, so when we played Surfers at this time of year we would belt them. But come finals time, Surfers would have won their past 6 games to sneak into the 4 with their massive ruckmen ring-ins finishing basketball and coming into their side to make them unbeatable. Gavin McGuane was at the club at the time too. I think it is a matter of opinion as to whether having a Sharks-run or AFL-run club is better in the long run. Certainly now that the AFL has cut $10.6 million from the Suns it would be tremendous if Southport extended their sponsorship and were granted some sort of ownership as a return on their investment. The rub is that the AFL is trying to divorce itself from pokies while Southport owes much of their success to pokies. Would Southport really be a better owner? It might give the AFL even more reason to defund the Suns. As for the chicken and egg around GC17, I think a proper deep dive into the wheeling and dealing young Gil MacLachlan did to get the whole shebang off the ground would give more clarity to what you are talking about, but this was not that article so I just glossed over it.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
Seeing as this article has been reasonably well received I should do the opposing side who played Southport in that first ever official match, who were literally called Centrals (after the South Australian club) but are these days known as Palm Beach Currumbin Lions AKA the Factory (having produced a golden generation of Suns Academy graduates, many of whom are now ironically playing for the old enemy, Southport.).
Ray Devine
Guest
If the AFL had some balls they would have given the licence to the Sharks in the first place. They have the money and structure in place and most of the culture. If the AFL now should take the licence off the Suns and give it to the Sharks. They would play finials within 2-3 years under Sharks management.
Gyfox
Roar Rookie
This article starts with celebrating Southport’s 60 years. Which shows that the Gold Coast has a long history of Aussie Rules.
Seano
Roar Rookie
Both my boys run around for the Labrador Tigers, so yes I hate the sharks, however it’s still the best game of the year in any age group, we are literally 2klms from each other so the kids all go to similar schools. So fun. Labrador also had a run in the NEAFL, but dropped back to the QAFL and won a flag. Now one thing I think is incorrect is that the reason the GC17 bid existed at all. Basically Sharks applied for a license, had proved they were more financially stable than half the afl so there was no way the afl could say no. Fearing a collingwood or west coast of the north the AFL themselves created the GC17 bid so that it could be controlled by them which has proved to be wrong. Love them or hate them the Sharks were the right choice, but the afl likes control more than being correct.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
Gaz was necessary to the Suns in the first few seasons. He was paid a lot of his salary by the AFL as an ambassador. The reason the Suns have been bad wasn’t because of his recruitment. It was an utter lack of access to talent, unlike GWS who had an embarrassment of riches. Questionable recruitment over gathering journey is another factor, but separate to Gaz.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
I’ll take the criticism, but further investigation is my prerogative. My current research says I’m right, I’ll objectively pursue it further. I do have a VERY good source and corroborating article which I submitted with the article. Please don’t assume that Roar editors print everything without sources.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
WA and SA already have their own extraordinarily effective systems with long established clubs bringing through juniors and they go to the National Draft or sometimes go through other drafts to get onto AFL lists. The future for non-Victorian Eastern States is to have their existing clubs vie for places in a relegation and promotion style system with funding from the AFL. It likely involves a NAB League type competition with NT and ACT plus teams throughout NSW and QLD in an U23 comp (with a set number of over aged players). Another approach could be an FA Cup style comp where teams play midweek all year to contest a National final. Getting State Comps to start early and have bye rounds would facilitate it and it would be funded by broadcasting. Imagine a bush team knocking off Port Melbourne! I also think that list sizes should be bigger and an AFL reserves comp be instituted. NAB Cup squads are big enough for their best players to be turning out for senior clubs and there is enough talent to make such a league very entertaining while taking little form the State leagues if opportunities are there for semi-pro leagues to retain talent.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
Just goes to show how stupid the prison bars debate is.
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
There is already a huge non-Suns demographic on the Gold Coast, with the majority of fans retaining former allegiance or masquerading as two team fans. However, when the Suns start making finals you’ll see attendance start to soar. I’ve already witnessed it as a Lions fan (yes, I was a Bears/Lions fan and just as passionate when they were collecting spoons).
Thom Roker
Roar Guru
The Whiteshoe brigade on the Gold Coast is largely behind the sporting curse. Muppets like Skase and Palmer did generational damage. Southport continued to support the Bears even after they left. Club legend, Dr Alan Mackenzie, who deserves his own article for what he did for the Sharks, Bears and Suns, and continues to do, went to Brisbane as the club doctor for several years after they left Carrara. The Broncos and Bears/Lions simply did not want competition down the M1. The King had a god-awful time of it at the very end, as player coach of the Seagulls and losing as Origin coach 0 and 3. Roy and HG took to calling the Maroons “Gold Coast” when they had their worst ever series. But I saw the King in action and even then, old and fat, he was simply a marvel to watch. Yet even he couldn’t stem the tide of young players being enveloped in the Broncos system while powerful Sydney clubs raided the rest.
Micko
Roar Rookie
The key point is that Adelaide already had a universal side for the city, instead of promoting Port first. GC having the Sharks promoted to the AFL would alienate the fans of other clubs.
Kevo
Roar Rookie
I remember the League in Gold Coast suffering the little brother / new kids on the block type syndrome and could never get their feet off the ground compared to the powerful Broncos. Even King Wally couldn't make any traction down there and probably had his greatest taste of failure on the footy field. I didn't know about the Murdoch shenanigans but it wouldn't surprise me. Attracting controversial characters like Palmer and Skase to the national sporting teams based there probably hasn't held the early impressions. The Bears seem to transform once they left Carrara and set foot onto the Gabba. I've had the impression it's been hard to develop a culture where something of substance could take root at a national level. Beautiful climate for the beach and the outdoor life in Gold Coast so yeah lots of healthy bods and always better to be a participant than an observer. Good that they've done so well in those fields you mentioned.