Sunbury is a bit of a stretch

If they're claiming fucking Geelong then I don't think anything is a stretch for them

I've been pretty excited about the expansion announcement, and am glad it's finally happening but I feel a bit confused by this decision and am not as thrilled about it as i thought I would be. The stadium can't come soon enough.

I don't understand the Melbourne landscape enough to know whether they'll be successful off the pitch in their formative years, but there's seemingly a lot of negativity about it on this forum which doesn't give me much confidence. I wish them every success though, football in this nation needs it.

Also inb4, I look forward to watching them play in round 2 after they inevitably have the bye in round 1.

What city are you from?  We'll try and come up with something comparable so that you can see what a strange selection it is (WMG).

Being from the outer east of melbourne I really don't know a lot about the west. People in the west/geelong, can you tell us, will you be going to their games? If so why, if not why not? Do you think they can actually draw 10k regularly?

The biggest problem is that they wont be playing in Tarneit for 3 years and 9 months.  That's a long time. There will be another couple of expansion teams by then (well who knows). But this club is playing in a soulless AFL stadium outside Melbourne for the forseeable future, just doesn't seem like a good idea

they might get 10k for a derby against city, a bit more for a derby against Victory, but thereafter, I doubt they would regularly get more than 5k  (unless existing Victory fans are wanting to watch more football)

I can see them drawing crowds between 5k to 10k when in their new stadium, which will look good in a 15 k stadium. The derbies will be sellouts against Victory at home and probably close to sellouts against City. How big do we expect crowds to be for new teams? Honestly 10k in a 15k stadium is better than 20k in a 40k stadium.

Geelong resident here - seeing as they want to whore themselves as West Melbourne, I won't be touching them with a ten foot barge pole. I toyed with the idea of jumping for a 'pure' Geelong bid if they ticked the right boxes, but not for this abortion. If I'm having to go to Melbourne to watch football, I might as well stay with the Vuck.

I'm from the West, I might go to one or two games a year out of interest, once they get to Tarneit (not Geelong), just like I occasionally go to City games if they are playing against someone interesting and I don't have anything better to do.
In the first 7-10 years they will struggle to draw 5K against the non-Victorian teams. After 10 years there might be enough growth and kids new to the A-League to push that up a little higher.
It's likely WMG will be a disaster of Gold Coast proportions crowd/fan wise.    

Was just thinking the same thing.
Besides derbies they will get smaller attendances than CCM.

Lots of salty tears from you. Wonder why?

Because WMG is an abortion to begin with?

not just me mate, 9 out of 10 who know this area think it's a strange choice, and likely to end in disaster

I would’ve thought the dandy, cranbourne etc bid was more exciting and much more potential for success considering the population growth

Well hopefully you're wrong,  for the sake of the game. Can ill afford more disasters like Fury, gold coast and Auckland ect

It is but they needed private funding to get it done. 

West Melbourne formely known as Carlton FC.

Tarneit resident here and Victory supporter, Will only go there when they play us, and I've told my family members they are dead to me if they even think about jumping ship :-). Told them the same thing when Heart/City came in,

The area itself has grown a lot, but to warrant an A-league team is "head scratching" and still getting my head around the decision.

From a football perspective, there a number of start up football teams in the area (Williams Landing, Tarneit and Wydhamvale that I know of), plus the established Werribee City (NPL), Hoppers Crossing (State 2), Truganina (State 4) and neighbouring Point Cook (State 3), Westpoint (State 5) and Laverton Park (State 4) and I know some of these clubs have already reached out to WMG to "partner" up.

I've found two fans so far.

As opposed to Canberra, Wollongong, South Melbourne, etc, who would have packed stands in football stadiums from day one.

There already exists government plans to build a Metro line to Wyndham Vale whether this bid had got up or not. The government wants to cut down Geelong train travel times by allowing V/Line trains to run express from Wyndham Vale to Sunshine. Part of this plan is to build new Metro stations at Davis Rd and Sayers Rd. It would make all the difference to getting to this new 15k stadium especially for the youth market.

The question is when and if this Metro line will be built (?). Past history in Victoria has seen sporting comps building stadium out in the sticks get burnt by broken state government promises. The then VFL built Waverley Park out in the middle of nowhere in Melbourne's growing south-east because the 1960s Bolte state government promised them a new railway out to Mulgrave and Rowville. We're still waiting 50 years later for this railway line while the AFL got fed up waiting in the 1990s and sold Waverley Park off to fund Docklands back in the more PT accessible CBD.

These days this forum is occupied by about 19 people representing a few die-hards and moping snipers.

I doubt anyone here is going to get behind any new team or have anything positive to say in general. 

More people here are waiting for the league to collapse so they can finally say 'I told you so' to the only 7 people left that agreed with them anyway than are actually following a team.

Was south willing to relocate? As in play out of geelong or the like?

I can’t see how this bid can get enough interest. Time will tell though I guess.

Im a werribee boy. I know exactly  where the stadium  is gonna be. Also know the road  leading to it is a two laner and that developers have their greedy hands on the land . 

Just out of curiosity, are you going to support this team or stick with the current club you support?

South play out of Geelong?  Seriously?

Never. Im happy  that this bid got in . But i bleed blue.. Also this bid can help get the heaps of football followers in the area who dont follow the hal. Hell a lot of indian families watch football but dont follow hal . I see my daughters friends at school wearing man united . Liverpool . Chelsea . City . Et al . This should change that , that and the wmg are going to engage  the local community 

Honestly this WMG licence thing is fucking ludicrous.

Their only saving grace will be if they throw the cash at imports for 4 years... IIRC they were going after Scott Brown??? It's going to take a lot more than a Scottish Broony to make up for the bullshit that will inevitable fall WMG's way.

Team 11 looked the more sustainable and football focused bid in Victoria, but would've preferred South over them as well. This is a shambles. Complete and utter shambles. 

Nothing has changed... 

From Geelong. Will not stop supporting Victory, but will definitely have a soft spot for West Melbourne. I will attend the occasional game while they are in Geelong. Obviously looking forward to the new derbies.

Why not call themselves South Melbourne ?

I genuinely hope this bid will be successful and attract new fans but most people I've seen on social media are in the same boat as you. They're Victory fans who are happy the bid got up but won't actually support the club. 

I hope I'm wrong and hope you're right but I can't see the club drawing many new fans.