On 29/04/2024 at 21:53, Sir Why You Little said:

But how will that happen?

Emotional ties only go so far. How many Players will leave at years end?

How can they attract Big Name Players?

The Spiral has begun….

Their rebuild is almost complete, they will win a lot more games going forward, they made the same mistake Dees made delisting and retiring all their older heads over a short time span and their earlier recruiting was slip shod. They now have a lot of elite talent and a good well supported coach, win games and it all turns quickly.

1 hour ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

The news of North Melbourne selling / potentially selling home games to play in WA just strengthens my thought that 19 clubs are not sustainable in this competition. The AFLW is now realising they expanded to 18 teams too quickly. The AFL need to fold North when Tasmania enters and leave our competition at 18 teams for at least the next 50 years. This mindset of having to appease everyone is not good for the game. 18 teams works, a top 8 works, we don’t need a wildcard weekend or any more teams.

I bet you would not be saying this if it was us. 

North going into 2025 is very much like Melbourne going into 2010.

Obviously many specific differences - North have been given far more draft concessions and other support than we were, and have been right at the bottom for longer than we had been at that time.

It'll be interesting to see if their injection of maturity this trade/agent period will help stabilise them enough to be competitive and gain some belief.

Also interesting to see what comes of their draft wave - we still haven't really seen anything of Goad, Dawson and Hardeman from 2023, and some of their picks from previous years are still in the 'promising' category rather than breaking out.

They could very suddenly become very scary, or else... hmm... it is hard to see North surviving as a club if they don't at least become competitive in this wave.

On 29/04/2024 at 21:20, Oxdee said:

The league is barely able to sustain 18 teams. There isn’t enough sponsorship, members or players to facilitate a 19th team. Americas population is 10x Australia’s and only has 32 teams. 

NFL players also earn about 10x as much as AFL players.

2 hours ago, DeeZone said:

Their rebuild is almost complete, they will win a lot more games going forward, they made the same mistake Dees made delisting and retiring all their older heads over a short time span and their earlier recruiting was slip shod. They now have a lot of elite talent and a good well supported coach, win games and it all turns quickly.

You are assuming their rebuild is all good and correct, now it may well be, but we don’t know the answer yet.
They are still in potential mode. 
there is no wriggle room this time, Tasmania are waiting to pounce on all the young talent and Draft Picks….

I disagree that the league can't support 19, and then 20 teams. What it can't support is 9 teams in Melbourne.

2 hours ago, djr said:

I bet you would not be saying this if it was us. 

It was us years ago and we got our …. together, North haven’t. They’ve got some great kids but are a long long way off, even with their recent recruitment they will still get scored heavily against. Regardless it’s for the good of the competition. 

1 hour ago, Sir Why You Little said:

You are assuming their rebuild is all good and correct, now it may well be, but we don’t know the answer yet.
They are still in potential mode. 
there is no wriggle room this time, Tasmania are waiting to pounce on all the young talent and Draft Picks….

Potentially the next GWS / GCS with their players requesting trades after 2-3 years. Or will the AFL introduce a minimum 4/5 year contract for draftees.

36 minutes ago, Mickey said:

I disagree that the league can't support 19, and then 20 teams. What it can't support is 9 teams in Melbourne.

Financially it can support as many teams as it wants but at what cost to the product.

1 hour ago, Little Goffy said:

North going into 2025 is very much like Melbourne going into 2010.

I really thought North would be a hard team to beat in 2024 with around 8 wins and a few close ones.

Maybe in 2025 but who knows

40 minutes ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

Potentially the next GWS / GCS with their players requesting trades after 2-3 years. Or will the AFL introduce a minimum 4/5 year contract for draftees.

Will be an interesting 5 years 

I've always found it fascinating - and to be honest grotesque - that the potential death of a 100 or 150 year old club, loved by tens of thousands of people, appears to evoke ecstasy in some people. They couch the prognostications in earnest language, assuring us of the infallibility of their economic orthodoxy, but you can see the tent in their pants from space. 

I cant see the AFL allowing Tassie to plunder NTH

22 hours ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

The news of North Melbourne selling / potentially selling home games to play in WA just strengthens my thought that 19 clubs are not sustainable in this competition. The AFLW is now realising they expanded to 18 teams too quickly. The AFL need to fold North when Tasmania enters and leave our competition at 18 teams for at least the next 50 years. This mindset of having to appease everyone is not good for the game. 18 teams works, a top 8 works, we don’t need a wildcard weekend or any more teams.

more likely to expand to 20 within a decade than it is to contract to 18 once the taswegian franchise comes in 

As someone who is friends with a Nottingham Forest fan of 25 years and to see them currently third on the EPL table, I can never understand the cheering and death riding of other teams and trying to will them out of existence. To see Forest catapult out of nowhere to sit in the top 4 and the buzz it bought to my mate and their multiple millions of fans worldwide is something that is always great to see as an avid sports fan. Always nice seeing the “inferior” clubs have their time in the sun and actually making the most of it.

We saw it with Fitzroy, most fans of the Bears couldn’t bear (no pun) to switch alliances to Brisbane because it simply isn’t the same as fabric and identity of the original club. Not to mention we, Melbourne FC were in multiple dire straits these past 2-3 decades and came out of it ok.

Make no mistake, if North ever does relocate, the club would never be the same and would devastate the ever loyal fanbase. 

Edited November 3, 2024Nov 3 by VNightCityLegend

On 02/11/2024 at 20:34, The Taciturn Demon said:

I've always found it fascinating - and to be honest grotesque - that the potential death of a 100 or 150 year old club, loved by tens of thousands of people, appears to evoke ecstasy in some people. They couch the prognostications in earnest language, assuring us of the infallibility of their economic orthodoxy, but you can see the tent in their pants from space. 

That same ecstasy existed amongst other supporters, namely Norf when we were on our knees.

Tents are highly visible when there is a juicy story unfolding that doesn't involve their club.

The narrative never changes year on year.

Edited November 3, 2024Nov 3 by YesitwasaWin4theAges

On 29/04/2024 at 23:36, Moonshadow said:

Apart from a couple of good defenders, North have a list with excellent promise. Clarko is a good coach. If the AFL support them as they did us with Jackson and Roos, I can't see why they cannot rise, if they can keep the list together

We need to be careful assuming we are safe. The next 3 years with a bunch of key retirements could prove disastrous if not replenished.

I heard at various times over the last 6 years that North, St Kilda and us have been in the firing line for folding or relocation.

Our success has saved us... for now

No home base, aging stars,, membership ok but not near matching the big clubs.

It's a long road to the top, but a fast road back down

Good god, I'm sounding like SWYL now! 🤔

Who did you hear from ? Really all sounds like a dream. You are aware that Gill has repeatedly reiterated that ALL teams are safe. I have not heard anything different from Dillon or any fantasy gurus.

Rest easy your post is not going to send any shock waves as it merely sounds like scuttle but. 

On 29/04/2024 at 23:36, Moonshadow said:

Apart from a couple of good defenders, North have a list with excellent promise. Clarko is a good coach. If the AFL support them as they did us with Jackson and Roos, I can't see why they cannot rise, if they can keep the list together

We need to be careful assuming we are safe. The next 3 years with a bunch of key retirements could prove disastrous if not replenished.

I heard at various times over the last 6 years that North, St Kilda and us have been in the firing line for folding or relocation.

Our success has saved us... for now

No home base, aging stars,, membership ok but not near matching the big clubs.

It's a long road to the top, but a fast road back down

Good god, I'm sounding like SWYL now! 🤔

Who did you hear from ? Really all sounds like a dream. You are aware that Gill has repeatedly reiterated that ALL teams are safe. I have not heard anything different from Dillon or any fantasy gurus.

Rest easy your post is not going to send any shock waves as it merely sounds like scuttle but. 

On 02/11/2024 at 21:04, The Taciturn Demon said:

I've always found it fascinating - and to be honest grotesque - that the potential death of a 100 or 150 year old club, loved by tens of thousands of people, appears to evoke ecstasy in some people. They couch the prognostications in earnest language, assuring us of the infallibility of their economic orthodoxy, but you can see the tent in their pants from space. 

Not only that but out of pure self interest, if North folds/relocates we are one step closer to the executioner ourselves. It is in our interest to have teams like North as it keeps the frothing masses at bay for us, it gives us an ally when dealing with the AFL (competitive balance fund or whatever it's called now as well as addressing other inequities like the salary cap, FA, draft/academies, fixture etc) and it gives us another Vic ally (once the interstate clubs hold a majority they will be pushing for any number of things to weaken the Vic clubs).

Careful what you wish for.

the afl has no interest in reduction of teams

expansion is the focus - where the 20th team will be is the big q

i fully expect it'll be a third wa-based team, despite the push for nt to have one of their own

6 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Careful what you wish for.

Good call. If North fall the football-as-commodity types don't just get to say "I told you so", they get a template for how the next ones go. 

I also never hear people who say "there are too many teams in Melbourne" suggest what the perfect number is. Presumably not eight. Is it six? Four? 

Just relocate all Norf's talent to the Tassie side and fold them up. Keeps it at 18 and reduces number of Melbourne clubs.

 

19 minutes ago, whatwhat say what said:

the afl has no interest in reduction of teams

expansion is the focus - where the 20th team will be is the big q

i fully expect it'll be a third wa-based team, despite the push for nt to have one of their own

Suspect you are right.

NT would be a stretch and require enormous NT gov't investment similar to Tasmania. The reasons we have GWS and GCS simply don't apply to NT.

I'd like to see a summer (wet season) comp in the NT played by two conferences of indigenous teams supplemented by say 6 VFL (SANFL etc) players for each team. Comp goes for 8 weeks plus two weeks of finals. Outback grounds featured with finals shared between Alice Springs and Darwin. Federal Gov't money would flow and the TV coverage benefits to the NT could be massive

1 hour ago, The Taciturn Demon said:

I also never hear people who say "there are too many teams in Melbourne" suggest what the perfect number is. Presumably not eight. Is it six? Four? 

I don't think there is a magic number for Melbourne teams but North have always been a victim of their geography. Always overshadowed by powerful clubs with huge supporter bases on their doorstep (Essendon & Carlton). Did not take advantage of a repositioning as Footscray did by playing some games in Ballarat. They are simply limited in attracting new supporters, especially having been a poorly performing side for so long, when Melbourne was booming demographically and they could have attracted new supporters without previous club loyalties.

Edited November 4, 2024Nov 4 by No. 31

If the AFL wanted North gone they would have done it already. Not going to happen.