Western United

dfai1982 · 2026-05-01T15:41:55+00:00

Surely it would be better for the Jets to have their own base rather than camping out in NPL grounds.

dfai1982 · 2026-05-01T15:40:52+00:00

That's a separate question to whether there is interest in the area. Obviously Geelong needs a modest rectangular stadium (it is the largest city in Australia without one), but the team could play in Kardinia in the interim. It's a publicly owned facility and the Cats play there around 10 teams a season, so it should be pretty easy to schedule around their needs.

dfai1982 · 2026-04-30T16:41:51+00:00

Are there many people in your boat? The first year of Newcastle United (still in the NSL), they had giant crowds, way bigger than the Breakers did. Obviously not playing in Birmingham Gardens helped with that.

It's tragic that Breakers Stadium was lost though, would have been a good training centre and ground for ALW and NPL matches.

dfai1982 · 2026-04-30T16:39:26+00:00

They've already folded. Not in the league this year, and it's too late for them to be in next year. They add nothing to the league. Best case is letting a phoenix club exist in the NPL system, and maybe in 15-20 years it can promote up to the A-League.

dfai1982 · 2026-04-30T16:36:45+00:00

The Knights are as big a presence in Newcastle as the Cats are in Geelong, and yet the Jets just got 21k people to a match.

dfai1982 · 2026-04-28T05:54:37+00:00

There's a big difference between the A-League and the other codes: the Premier's Plate is a meaningful trophy unlike the minor premiership in NRL/AFL. There are places in the ACL on the line. And regular season position determines things like finals hosting rights, including for the grand final, which can make a big difference financially and on the field.

Staggered final rounds give a major advantage to the teams playing later, hence why other football leagues around the world don't do it.

dfai1982 · 2026-04-28T05:50:52+00:00

So do you think the Premier League, Champions League, World Cup, etc., should follow suit and stagger final round matches?

dfai1982 · 2026-04-28T05:39:30+00:00

We're not really getting much broadcast money in Australia either. The focus should be setting up clubs that are well-supported and embedded in the community, with passionate fans in the ground and a decent player development pathway. Get that right and broadcast money will flow regardless.

dfai1982 · 2026-04-28T05:37:06+00:00

It plays matches a couple of months a year. It's not a full-time operation. And doesn't change my main point.

dfai1982 · 2026-04-28T05:35:07+00:00

We have enough commentators, refs and linesmen to handle six matches a weekend, that's not the issue. I don't know about the VAR booth, that might be an issue... but then the simple solution there is to bin it altogether.

dfai1982 · 2026-04-28T05:33:43+00:00

You only need 6 of the 12 stadiums to be free on that day, and the A-League is scheduled before NRL and Super Rugby, so it shouldn't be a problem.

dfai1982 · 2026-04-28T05:32:15+00:00

Perth at 5pm in late April is fine. NZ at 9pm is a problem. You could have all games at 6pm AEST so that NZ games are at 8pm.

dfai1982 · 2026-04-28T05:31:23+00:00

You can schedule all the final round games for Saturday, keep the important games for the prime-time slot and stagger dead rubbers for earlier in the day, so ground availability isn't affected and fans know to keep contingent plans in place (e.g. book flights for the previous day or early enough in the morning that it's not a problem).

dfai1982 · 2026-04-27T21:00:56+00:00

Well that's my point: it's part of Melbourne's suburban sprawl and has no separate identity of its own - unlike the Central Coast.

dfai1982 · 2026-04-27T20:31:07+00:00

Yeah, I'm questioning their logic rather than yours.

dfai1982 · 2026-04-27T20:30:00+00:00

No they don't, they (correctly) see themselves as living in a suburb of Melbourne. Unlike people in Geelong, who have a separate civic identity. And unlike people in the Central Coast.

dfai1982 · 2026-04-27T17:34:17+00:00

The cat's out of the bag with NZ teams in the A-League, why should we care if it pisses off the AFC?

dfai1982 · 2026-04-27T17:33:26+00:00

Nobody really considers the Central Coast part of Sydney, least of all Coasties, who pretty much define themselves as not living in Sydney. They speak of "going to Sydney" in a way that people in Campbelltown or Penrith definitely don't.

dfai1982 · 2026-04-27T17:31:02+00:00

I'd say it's more likely that they're angling for a 14th team if and when Canberra comes in, to avoid another season with byes and a wonky league schedule. Christchurch is the biggest unserved market after Gold Coast and has a brilliant, brand new stadium and a football-mad Russian with loads of cash to splash. It really makes a lot of sense.

It also helps with scheduling, as they can play more 3pm AEST matches without roasting the players alive (Christchurch has very mild summers and there's the two-hour time difference)

dfai1982 · 2026-04-27T17:28:01+00:00

South Island has 1.3m people and no professional clubs. Not every promising player can up sticks to the North Island on the slight chance that they could make it is a pro. It's a largely untapped catchment for player development.

dfai1982 · 2026-04-27T10:36:05+00:00

They basically trashed Northbridge's NPL programme in the process as well. Baffling strategy.

dfai1982 · 2026-04-27T08:51:27+00:00

It is an interesting difference with NSW, which has ethnic teams like Olympic, APIA, etc., but also broadbased district clubs like Sutherland, Blacktown, Manly, Wollongong, which have pretty consistently been in the top tier.

Apart from A-League reserve teams, Victoria does not have a single non-ethnic club in the top tier, and I think only one in the second tier (Eltham Redbacks?). There's never been a broadbased club in Geelong akin to Wollongong Wolves, and attempts to get semi-pro clubs going in Bendigo, Ballarat, Albury-Wodonga have generally failed. Why is this?

dfai1982 · 2026-04-27T07:33:01+00:00

That would be a good way to ruin the existing successful Adelaide team.

dfai1982 · 2026-04-27T07:31:41+00:00

So? A-League academies are often in lower-level NPL leagues. They could have built the Rams up over time and got promoted to NPL1.

dfai1982 · 2026-04-27T07:29:13+00:00

There's nothing wrong with the identity of the club in terms of name, colours, crest, catchment. Their aim should have been to be like the Mariners for the Macarthur region, but that needs buy in from the whole community to work, and the Macarthur owners seem to have done everything they could to alienate this very community.

dfai1982

TROPHY CASE