Discussion General Discussion

Which team wins a final first?

  • Essendon

    Votes: 23 28.4%
  • Tasmania

    Votes: 58 71.6%

  • Total voters
    81

Darkie

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Apologies if it's been posted/discussed elsewhere, but what are everyone's thoughts on there being a 19th AFL team? (New one to potentially be in Tasmania). It's been in the news recently.
It seems like a lot of Tassie footy people have been very passionate about securing a team, so it’s good to see from that perspective.

One thing it does make me wonder is how the AFL gets back to an even number of teams, which I suspect would be their preference.

One would also hope they have learned some lessons from some of the other new teams added to the league in years gone by.
 
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Apologies if it's been posted/discussed elsewhere, but what are everyone's thoughts on there being a 19th AFL team? (New one to potentially be in Tasmania). It's been in the news recently.
The elephant in the room in my view is how will they attract and retain talent to just be competitive let alone have regular and/or sustained success. I don’t think they will have sufficient home grown talent and I can’t see the top talent in the country being excited to invest 10 years of an AFL career in Hobart. Very few of that demographic are willing to do it at the Gold Coast or in the West of Sydney. The smaller Melbourne clubs (like North) even struggle and they are based in Melbourne. We know how strong player power has become in recent years.

I suspect once the steamy romantic mist of a Tassie team clears, the reality will be much tougher. I would point out that the vast majority of Tasmanian’s strongly advocating for a Tassie team do not live there and would have been about that age when they moved away.

I also agree that an odd number of teams is problematic. For example it would not work this year because, with an odd number of teams, and an odd number of games (23 this year) there is a left over team that would play 1 less game. It is mathematically unavoidable. Not sure it makes sense to add a 20th team just to avoid that however I suspect the easiest and best solution would be another team from WA or SA. Given the success of the Gather Round (which now seems permanent) another solution would be 24 games but I am sure that introduces another set of issues.
 
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The elephant in the room in my view is how will they attract and retain talent to just be competitive let alone have regular and/or sustained success. I don’t think they will have sufficient home grown talent and I can’t see the top talent in the country being excited to invest 10 years of an AFL career in Hobart. Very few of that demographic are willing to do it at the Gold Coast or in the West of Sydney. The smaller Melbourne clubs (like North) even struggle and they are based in Melbourne. We know how strong player power has become in recent years.

I suspect once the steamy romantic mist of a Tassie team clears, the reality will be much tougher. I would point out that the vast majority of Tasmanian’s strongly advocating for a Tassie team do not live there and would have been about that age when they moved away.

I also agree that an odd number of teams is problematic. For example it would not work this year because, with an odd number of teams, and an odd number of games (23 this year) there is a left over team that would play 1 less game. It is mathematically unavoidable. Not sure it makes sense to add a 20th team just to avoid that however I suspect the easiest and best solution would be another team from WA or SA. Given the success of the Gather Round (which now seems permanent) another solution would be 24 games but I am sure that introduces another set of issues.
Found this site which lists current players originally from Tassy.
Tasmanians in the AFL / AFLW | AFL Tasmania

I guess much like GWS & GCS, the AFL is going to have to splash some cash to get them established with more players.
 
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KLo30

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It's a pretty cool story, I hope more Americans do come and play AFL, ex NFL players would be interesting, if a gun running back could learn how to kick they could be amazing, problem is the money's so crap here compared to there.
Essendon tried that with Dwayne Armstrong.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwayne_Armstrong

It isn't that easy to run and kick a ball. You need to have a soccer background to go with either basketball and/or WR/TE type skills. CB and Safety would also work for intercept and man marking abilities.

Most American sporting backgrounds would preclude the transition.

You need high school guys who realise that they are too slow to reach the next level in football, basketball and soccer, and then don't pick up lacrosse.


I actuallly won a cheap practice jersey (SD Chargers) in a NFL flag football professional development session run by Dwayne at the Melbourne Tennis Centre by guessing his jersey number. (It was 47 for those interested)
 
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Essendon tried that with Dwayne Armstrong.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwayne_Armstrong

It isn't that easy to run and kick a ball. You need to have a soccer background to go with either basketball and/or WR/TE type skills. CB and Safety would also work for intercept and man marking abilities.

Most American sporting backgrounds would preclude the transition.

You need high school guys who realise that they are too slow to reach the next level in football, basketball and soccer, and then don't pick up lacrosse.


I actuallly won a cheap practice jersey (SD Chargers) in a NFL flag football professional development session run by Dwayne at the Melbourne Tennis Centre by guessing his jersey number. (It was 47 for those interested)
Might not have read enough in depth ... but the Irish Gaelic players seem to transition quite well ...

- adapt to a new ball, possibly put some bulk on and increase their fitness levels ...

- To me the initial building blocks are already set in place ... natural way to play, vision etc
 
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