the cochroach raised an interesting point, it took hawks 40 years to win finals (idk if true, not an afl historian)
This organisation brings nothing to AFL footy . No soul, no identity, no presence. The TV rights arguments is a fallacy. The “growing the game” argument is problematic, at best. It is not money and resources well spent. It’s a millstone for all AFL fans.
Close them down.
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The best they can come up with is a few extra Auskickers running around in the Gold Coast. Besides that they have done nothing for 11 years.
Tassie would be a much better option for everyone involved.
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Gold Coast as a club are a joke but it’s worth having them in just to hear Tony Cochrane. He’s compulsive viewing whenever he’s on. Love his work 
It still infuriates me that they knowingly, wantonly (and wantingly) allowed Fitzroy - a real club with a heartbeat and a soul few others could match - to die off. And now we have to suffer these preening flogs preaching garbage about the worthiness of sinking billions of dollars into a plastic Tupperware organisation that hasn’t once felt like anything beyond a wreckage of plastic surgery disasters on a cheap ■■■■ pay tv reality show. Oh no, my thirty seventh collagen injection of draft picks has collapsed my face!
The entire premise of the AFL needing to “dominate the sporting landscape” is not only flawed, it leads to outright dishonesty and ideological despotism. Fark the AFL and their constant brainwashing and manipulation of the true custodians of the game . Fark Gold Coast and their Barbie doll “club”.
And Fark Carlton.
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The AFL - because they’re stubborn, ruthless flogs - will break the game even more to get the Suns to work.
They might merge them with a relocated Vic team - Saints?
Or they might force each club to give up an experienced player?
Then they’ll get some names up there amongst the club. A few of Ross Lyon, Nathan Buckley, Michael Voss, Paul Roos, Sam Mitchell, etc…
Couple this with some recently retired players as per Luke Hodge at Lions.
The Suns and Giants (despite some success) feel like they’ve been set up as feeder clubs, almost like the WAFL, VFL and SANFL comps, within the AFL comp for the other 16 competing clubs with the amount of players being poached and leaving these clubs every year.
The whole structure and integrity of the AFL competetion have been compromised ever since these two clubs joined within a year of one another. The whole thing’s a joke.
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Partly true, but it’s because they are fake plastic. they aren’t really clubs, they are a brand. Clubs should grow out of a community, not just materialise out of nothing as a commercial venture.
From our point of view, didn’t we get guys like Sheil, Smith, 2MP, Stewart because they weren’t really getting a game. And Saad started at the Saints didn’t he?
Not sure how the AFL is meant to help them hold on to players. Maybe they should make more effort with the community?
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Saad started with the Suns. Ahmed(?) Saad played at the Saints.
Ahh, thanks. I remember Saint’s Saad had that terrible stutter in his kicking action, and thought the Suns must have fixed it for him, cheers.
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Of course they have. But you’re thinking about it on the wrong level.
It’s all about getting kids into the game. Not just elite players into the AFL.
Which GC is doing by the tens - if not hundreds - of thousands
GC on field, ■■■■■■■■ from beginning to end.
AFL presnce in SE QLD has had a huge impact.
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Yes, Junior participation is up considerably in SE QLD, but I can’t stand this mantra of the AFL having to “Grow the game”. The AFL are meant to be a not-for-profit but these “stewards of the game” have around a dozen people earning more than $1m a year. Seems to be a lot of profit going on for some.
The game of footy should primarily be for the enjoyment of the people that actually enjoy it. Just remember the next time it’s costing you $50 to upgrade your (already paid) members seat and $6 for a coke that your money is going to be poured down a bottomless pit up on the Gold Coast to try to entice nobody to come along and care. All the while another suit gets his million dollar pay check and another couple of draft picks.
Fold and die, Suns.
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is there any stats on this?
Yeah there are, I found & quoted them some time previous. Basically QLD now has more juniors than SA. That’s the entire reason for the AFL doing what they’re doing: kids who play juniors footy will grow up into adults who watch footy.
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Though given Queensland has roughly 3.5 million more people than South Australia, having more kids play football is not a high bar.
And I’ve yet to see a breakdown of Brisbane vs GC influence on junior participation.
Note, I’m not saying GC have no influence, but Cochrane is a self promoting flim flam man to say the least.
With a trust factor below zero.
As a comparable test, how many juniors would take up football if GC became the “North Australia Suns”, and played half their games in Cairns, half in Darwin?
Leaving the Bears with the SE Queensland market.
I don’t know if junior participation would take that much of a hit.
(Better places to visit for away fans too!)
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I guess it really depends if you want to put a team in a market of 3 million people, or 17.
Tricky decision.
See, I think this is - at best - naive.
Who would actually win if it was run for the diehards, by the diehards, with no attempt to attract new fans & markets?
That’s essentially the rugby union model, and look how well that sport’s going.
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This club really needs to rebrand themselves from top to bottom. there is nothing that makes them appealing to a footy fan. They need to ditch the colours, the logo, the team name, the club song, everything. it stands for nothing and just looks pathetic. their guernsey is made to look like gold coasts lifeguards. doesn’t really strike fear into the opposition does it?
I think what would work is changing the colours to gold. While they’re at it change to a female team and make the uniform a bikini.
Then instead of playing footy, just get them to stroll around putting money in parking metres.
That’s something that might attract some attention on the Gold Coast.
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Even if there are lots of kids playing Auskick on the Gold Coast. What are the chances they stay interested in football as they get older- especially when the Gold Coast team itself continues to suck.