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In March 2008, the AFL sold club presidents on the idea of expansion by pointing out the dangers in being outnumbered by rival codes in Sydney and South East Queensland. The suggestion was that having only one team in each of these critical markets wouldn’t be enough to build on, or possibly even sustain, the game’s present market share.
While the final call on whether that view was the correct one won’t truly be known for years, possibly decades, early indications suggest there was a lot of wisdom in the AFL’s thinking.
The remarkable contrast between the current state of the Brisbane Lions and that of their newest rival, the Gold Coast Suns, highlights as much.
The Lions finished 13th this year. Worse, they finished 13th after gambling big time during trade week in a bid to get closer to a grand final.
To rub salt into the wound, that trade week cost them Daniel Bradshaw, Lachie Henderson, draft picks and eventually, best and fairest winner Michael Rischitelli – and the biggest name they got in return was Brendan Fevola, who they now seem intent on getting rid of anyway.
Throw in yesterday’s news that another player, Jared Brennan, had joined the exodus and the Lions truly are in a woeful and unfortunate state. And there’s no indication of any major improvement any time soon.
Thank goodness, Andrew Demetriou must be thinking, for the Gold Coast Suns.
While the Lions are in a spot of bother, the Suns have emerged as the exciting new kid on the block. They’ve put together a quality coaching panel, a fantastic stadium is on the way, they’ve done some great work in the local community and, importantly, they’ve embraced the task of building the game’s profile in Queensland (their involvement in Cairns is a perfect example of this).
With player announcements filtering through in recent weeks, optimism has continued to surround the AFL’s 17th club. They have been like a breath of fresh air for the game in the Sunshine State.
Without the introduction of the Suns, it’s not hard to imagine the AFL being a little bit more concerned with where the Lions are at right now. In the past, if the Lions were down there was nothing for Queensland supporters – or even the Queensland media, for that matter – to get excited about.
This would leave the game vulnerable to a dip in its share of the market, but that’s something that simply doesn’t seem like happening as the Suns enter the comp. This can only be a good thing.
Looking ahead, a similar situation may yet play out in Sydney as the new Greater Western Sydney club enter the competition.
While the Swans are unlikely to find themselves in a predicament like that of the Lions, they are definitely in the midst of a transition period – especially with the Paul Roos era coming to an end last Saturday.
At any rate, doubling the number of teams in the northern states will ensure that when one team in a market drops off, there aren’t huge immediate consequences or any cause for panic.
Going back to March 2008, Demetriou said: “We’ve been saying for a long time that the cost of not expanding, we believe, is a far greater cost to the competition than doing it.”
The situation with the Lions and Suns may just be proving this sentiment right.