17 teams! | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
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17 teams!

YinnarTiger said:
Talk to any of the old Swans and Lions supporters, they still call Sydney South and Brisbane Fitzroy.
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I'm an old Fitzroy supporter and I sure as hell don't call Brisbane Fitzroy, they bear no resemblance to the club I loved. I actually refer to them as the bears and I know a number of old Fitzroy supporters who do the same.

If North move to the Gold Coast you'll find some will embrace the move, others will be like me and find another club to follow (my dad's a tiger), and others will walk away from the game altogether. The comparison with Sth Melb is probably more suitable as that was a straight relocation so the fabric of the club remains largely the same albeit in a different location. The Fitzroy-Brisbane takeover was a completely different scenario and one I desperately hope we never see again.

I really hope the Kangaroos are able to remain North Melbourne, but I can't see how it'll happen. The business side of football has unfortunately become to powerful and it would seem there's no room for sentiment anymore.

I really don't know what I'd want as a North supporter; at least a relocation means that your club remains intact, the only other viable option I can see would be a merger with Footscray which could work for everyone providing the AFL do it in consultation with the clubs involved and don't take an interventionist approach and just do what they want.
 
Biggest issue for North is support.

They say they need more time to garner their supporters to sign up, and that this years numbers are soft off a bad season. True, but North support has been soft for decades. The members have been told "the sky is falling" a number of times, and whether it is care factor, or whether it is the private ownership, their supporters just don't sign up and stay signed up (one of the leagues highest churn rates).

Secondly there are sponsors. Without (a) TV coverage, (b) attendances, and (c) members/supporter base, you lack the visibility to attract key sponsors. North is soft on all three, and I cannot see how they can turn this around.

Finally, you have the why. Dollars matter even with the cap because they buy equipment, facilities, recruiters, coaches, and key off-ground staff. Look at us, we have suffered partially as a result of the debt we have meaning we had to skimp in these areas. The AFL can only allow the Roos to be propped up, other clubs will never allow them to prosper under AFL donations, and this will doom the club longer term.

As such, I strongly believe they have to move now while they are being begged by the AFL (rather than the other way around). The reason the Roys got shafted was that they had no bargaining power, and got a horrible deal as a result. Roos should strike now while they can insist in $$$, facilities, TV time, Melbourne games, supporter benefits, draft concessions, zones, etc (even though Eddie will cry, the AFL REALLY want this to happen).
 
17 clubs wont happen and even if it did - it would soon be back to 16 as the AFL would no doubt stop hand feeding the Kangas and happily watch them go to the wall.
 
Too true Braddles, Fitzroy were stiff and stiffed, not sure what the answer would be for the Kangars some would be happy if their future was guarenteed up north, but geez it makes it hard for the diehards whether they would still follow them or not. These dynamics are a real intangible to the fabric of any club and supporter
 
I really like the idea, presented on radio, of a 20 team AFL comp divided into conferences.

10 Vic based teams in one conference.

10 non-Vic based teams in the other conference.

Each conference broken up into two sub-zonal divisions of 5 teams, ie Victoria North Zone.

Each team gets to play the other teams in its sub-zone twice, ie 8 games.

Each team plays the other teams outside its sub-zone once, ie 15 games.

League H&A season is 23 rounds long.

Each sub-zone has its winner at the end of the H&A.

A conference finals play-off series determines each conferences' champions, then Grand Final day determines League championship.

It's the way the NFL is run. It provides joy to those fans of those clubs that win the minor H&A championships, conference championships & the eventual League championship.

It is a much better reward system than our current AFL Premiership winner receiving the only kudos, with 2nd & after all being considered also-rans or worse.

Personally, I much prefer the NFL championship system to our own AFL premiership system.
 
Interesting concept Phanto.

I, too, am a fan of a conference-type system. The biggest drawback I see with the one you have described is that we will never see an all-Victorian Grand Final, so a Richmond-Collingwood or Richmond-Collingwood clash could never eventuate.

A potential solution to this was mentioned recently on SEN, whereby the semi-finals, ie. the conference championships, are scrapped in favour of a cross-over semi-final, wherein the second ranked Victorian team plays the top non-Vic team and vice versa. Such a system would leave the possibility of an all-Vic, or non-Vic Grand Final open.

Just a thought.
 
I reckon 20 teams would dilute the talent pool too much.

I don't see why they don't just make two leagues of 8 teams from the 16 they already have. Each team plays each team in it's league twice (14 games) and the teams in the other league once (8 games) for a total of 22 games. The leagues have separate finals and a champion of each league before the winners of each league play off in the grand final. This would eliminate biased fixturing and provide a far more even competition all around IMO.
 
I don't necessarily agree/disagree with any particular conference system. Just that such a system could be developed that would enable a fair draw, while allowing the blockbuster matches that the AFL/media/public desire.

The 2 conference system of 8 each that you propose could work, but the model you propose still means that any teams in the same conference can never play off in Grand Final, unless a cross-over semi-final was introduced as I described above. We would also have to work out the fairest conferences considering we currently have 10 Vic teams and 6 interstate.
 
I don't mind the fact that two teams from the same league can't play off in a grand final. It's worked in the NFL and MLB for decades and would just mean that the respective league championships would have more emphasis on them as they would be their own grand finals of sorts.

As far as deciding the make up the leagues goes I'd wouldn't split them into Victorian and non-Victorian. I'd try and split them as evenly as possible in terms of location to try and provide the fairest possible travel schedule. The only downside to this would be only one showdown or derby each year but you could get around this by implementing a rivalry round at either the start of the end of each season.
 
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