World Footy News

The Kangaroos have rejected the Australian Football League's offer to move to the Gold Coast. The club, which changed its name from North Melbourne to the Kangaroos in 1999 in an effort to gain wider support, had toyed with Sydney, ACT and Gold Coast markets for several years. With Aussie Rules booming on the Gold Coast thanks to internal Australian migration and massive AFL investment, ultimately the time would come when they had to decide whether they would take up the AFL's plan for a club fully based in the region. The Roos looked for a further year extension to make a go of things in Melbourne, but the AFL informed them yesterday that a decision had to be made now. After a drawn-out saga the answer was swift - the club will not commit to the Gold Coast and will try to stay alive in Melbourne. This means a new, 17th AFL club, is likely, and the number of AFL players will expand - perhaps even opening the door for a few more international recruits.

Former West Australian and South Australian cricketer James Brayshaw, better known these days as co-host of Channel Nine's The Footy Show, has now been elected club chairman, and will lead the push to revive the Kangaroos' financial fortunes. It's likely that AFL handouts will dry up in the next few years, and Brayshaw admits the charity must end, so the club will need major changes off the field. Brayshaw has also undertaken to investigate changing the name back to North Melbourne.

The choice facing the Roos' board and fans could be likened to an impoverished mother being offered the choice of giving up her child to a wealthy family for adoption and a bright but very different future, or keeping them where they know they will be loved and the family traditions continued, but with the every present risk of potentially fatal ill health - a horrible choice to make. Not surprisingly emotion has won over financial realism and only time will tell whether the club can survive and be a force.

Meanwhile the AFL will now have to seriously consider a 17th licence to create a new AFL club, be it from scratch or built upon the Coast's most successful footy club, the Southport Sharks. AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou had outlined the pressing need for the sport to fully enter the region, with all of Australia's other major codes either already fielding national league sides there or with plans to soon do so - Australian Football could not wait another year before commencing a plan to have its own side.

Demetriou said "Now that the Kangaroos have made their decision we now have certainty about what we want to do on the Gold Coast and that is that we can now commence the work around a new team and a 17th licence," he told Southern Cross radio. We certainly wish the Kangaroos well with their plan and now we've got to get on with running our code and growing the code around the country and part of that plan is to take the game to the Gold Coast".

The timeframe looks to be 2010 to 2011 for the entry of the new club, though surely 2009 can't be completely ruled out given the haste with which other sports are converging on the area. How a bye in the draw will be handled should prove controversial. Given teams prize a break of 7 days over 6 or 5 days, coming up against a team that has had a weekend off (so effectively around 14 days off) will be seen as a major disadvantage. And in some rounds multiple teams would need a bye. That's unless the Roos make a last minute scramble to relocate, which can't be completely ruled out. Or unless the AFL try to create an 18th side, in western Sydney - clearly a long term goal but highly unlikely before 2015.

Demetriou said a new Gold Coast club was unlikely to be privately owned, instead member-driven like most of the Melbourne-based clubs. Matches would probably be shared between Carrara Stadium and the Gabba (Brisbane's home ground).

Providing finances and recruiting staff and community support could prove to be easier than the crucial on-field issue - where do they get 40 quality players? When West Coast was born the players were mostly drawn from the still relatively strong WAFL and ex-West Australians playing in the VFL/AFL, and similarly Adelaide drew from the SANFL plus a few returning South Australian stars from other AFL clubs. On the other hand Brisbane was mainly VFL/AFL castoffs and struggled for many years. The more recent inclusions of Fremantle and Port Adelaide drew on the state leagues more, and in Port's case, careful selection of young talent set them up nicely.

However the top state leagues are now nowhere near as strong compared with the AFL, and the main Queensland league, whilst improving rapidly, is even further behind. Mature state league players could probably fill a new list from roughly position 20 to 30, with young talent filling 31 to around 40. Hopefully we might even see one or two Papuan's brought into the squad, given their emergence as a strong Australian Football nation and many talented youngsters coming through the AFL Queensland system. And perhaps more Irishmen will be targeted. But where will the first 20 come from? Ultimately a new side will need to poach one or two good players from each AFL club, and that's something that could be fiercely resisted. There's no doubt the smoothest transition would have been the Roos heafing north. Now the ball is entirely in the AFL's court, and they will have their hands full for the next three or four years at least.

Other stories on the topic follow, and a special vox pop video by the team that brought you the comedy show The Footy Wrap:

We must expand the code: Demetriou

The AFL’s $100m Gold Coast proposal

League to build on Gold Coast momentum

Kangaroos abandon Gold Coast relocation

Pressure now on: Brayshaw

Shinboner spirit rises as North votes to fight

League believes 12 months lost in vital push north

Pagan back as Demetriou pushes on

Full steam ahead on 17th club: AFL

The Footy Wrap on YouTube - Kangaroos say no to Gold Coast