They have one home derby against Victory and 2 against City. Hopefully for them cheap tickets and a couple of early wins will help get a few more bums on seats.


Tarneit is exactly halfway between Melbourne and Geelong. 30 minutes each way by train. 


geez, maybe do some research before commenting my friend. As things stand right now, Tarneit West Station is earmarked to be built between 2022-2027. However, as nearby Tarneit station is running at 100% capacity, there is little doubt it will be fast tracked. I'm predicting it'll be built before the 2022 state election. 


well keep up with the news then buddy. WU announced last week that the first sod will be turned within 6 weeks. 

Zero. Zip. Nada. Nothing.

Let’s be clear. I am not against this club.

The issue I have is that there is absolutely no evidence that the planning process to gain approval for the stadium has begun.

Zero. Zip. Nada. Nothing.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/western-united-chief-to-focus-on-stadium-development-20190929-p52vzk.html 
Date 29/09/19  

Talks over the stadium development and planning processes involving club officials and consultants along with government departments are ongoing, and Bisetto will now relinquish his football activities to focus on those."

"This was always planned from day one because of the size of the job (in getting the stadium development off the ground)," a Western United spokesman said.

Yes. Thanks for confirming my post. 
Zip. Nada. Nothing.
They are ‘talking’ to government departments.

which is why they are the perfect expansion team. The only team that can provide a proper derby.

I don’t disagree with that - but it wasn’t Fans I was thinking about. 

Travel time is not bad, however the frequency of the trains is no where near good enough. Based on current timetables, the trains to Tarneit on a Saturday evening are 40-50 minutes apart. If a person misses a train, connecting train or a service is cancelled, that could result in missing an entire half of football. As it stands right now, it is easier and quicker for people in many of the western suburbs to travel to AAMI or Marvel than it is to get out to Geelong or the future Tarneit stadium.

yeah no doubt there is not enough frequent services on weekends. thats a problem with the whole VLine network right now. they can't keep up with skyrocketing demand (Geelong patronage has tripled in 10 years). thats why Tarneit and Wyndhamvale stations are at 100% capacity. they need more rolling stock. The Tarneit corridor will be electrified in the coming years, so it will be connected to the metro system, meaning more services. 

The problem is that for the next 3 (maybe more) years, it is easier for many people in suburbs like Sydenham, Melton, Deer Park, etc to support MV or MC than it is to support the club that is meant to represent them. This further highlights the pressure and importance of being successful on the pitch over the next few years. Although I think it is unlikely, if WU spend their first few season at the bottom of the table it will be a very difficult hole to dig out of. 

Very fair and accurate comments there regarding public transport. But it's a very easy drive and parking is easy and free for GMHBA if you are willing to walk a little. 

Absolutely, it's fine for people that are happy to drive, however for those who either don't drive or would like to have a drink or ten it just starts to complicate things. MV and MC are easy and Victorian's are already very accustomed to travelling into the city for sporting (and non-sporting) events.

they do run extra trains when the Geelong AFL team play at home. Pretty sure they ran an extra train when Victory played there as well. 

This is just bizarre.

If this is true, then I'm worried about Rudan's mental health.

https://twitter.com/patrick478/status/1181669853087883264

Apparently something similar happened to this guy too.

https://twitter.com/NZ_Dave/status/1181673526094258176

On a lighter note, Diamanti has been announced as captain.

For their sake, I hope they do put on extra train services. However, MV and AFL clubs have large amounts of supporters so it's easy to justify the additional services. It's unclear how many supporters WU will have to begin with. Currently it appears the number is quite low.

Definitely bizarre if true. Far too difficult to confirm though. Public figures should really know better than to let comments on the socials get to them.

FUUK - Is this real or what. 

Why the sour grapes about Rudan leaving? Talay is there now, people should show a vote of confidence there. Thats a good squad.  Look at all the player and coach movements at the NRL, its Kardashian stuff at its purist form over there!

Of course it would be true.

There's a reason he had a restraining order/AVO put on him when working in Sydney/for Fox Sports. The guy's a psycho.

Mel McLaughlin stalker exposed from USB

No name there but interesting that you put it in this thread.

Think he's just an arsehole really.

I don't know how to post attachments on this site. But Steve Horvat said in an interview on FNR 2 weeks ago that the stadium is still on track for a 2021 opening. its a 20 month build and are 5-6 weeks away from having everything ticked off and approved. 

Rudan is only calling them out for what they are.really..truth no good to anyone?

Are you suggesting that the stadium will not go ahead? 

The process to start deciding whether the stadium should, or should not get planning approval has not even begun yet.
Either they are having secret meetings with the Minister that no one knows about, or they are simply dragging their feet.
Speaking with some people at DELWP, it appears nothing is happening with the Minister.

Why, so long after they won the licence bid, and so long after they negotiated a likely deal with the Council, have they NOT YET taken the first step to lodge an application for planning permission? 

They have not even started the process of achieving planning approval. That is starting to smell a bit fishy to me.

It makes me think, they might be dragging their feet.
Why would you drag your feet?
Well, if you start the club and see how it goes with crowds in Geelong, you might find that you are able to turn a profit just by playing out of the rented stadium there. In that case, you wouldn't necessarily need to move to Melbourne and build your own stadium.

Geelong might get its own team after all.

I don’t get your conspiracy theory stuff, and I’m astonished that you’re apparently talking to government and asking questions about the Minister?

You look to have a serious axe to grind? It’s intriguing... 

The club have received appointed a CEO to oversee the stadium development - why would they do that if they’re not building a stadium?

And they have recently reasserted that it will be ready in time for season three - why would they say that if they’re not building a stadium? 

Wyndham Council has already awarded them four parcels of land for the stadium development - why would they do that if they’re not building s stadium? 

Wyndham Council has indicated they will fast-track the planning process - how long is required (a DA must be in place already presumably?). 

It was also recently reported (this week) that “talks over the stadium development and planning processes involving club officials and consultants along with government departments are ongoing” - if the government is not involved why hasnt that been denied or rebuked? 

The stadium is only a part of a wider property development play, they’ll make a fortune out of all this irrespective of how WU go. 

Just about all the early articles implied Ground turning ceremony would be October 2019?
Start the Shark mid November if no public progress.
The stadium has to be built in keeping with the commercial precinct around it and the future housing in the area 
no mean feet to get all parts including Nimby's on the same page. 

I don’t have any axe to grind. I actually hope they get the stadium built.

The issue is that it is taking too long and they haven’t even started.

Im not talking to the minister, I just happen to know people that work there, and they haven’t heard of any action. As I said previously, there may be secret meetings happening with the minister himself or senior staff at DELWP.

In regards to your question on how long does a DA take, how long is a piece of string?

They have to get architectural plans, preliminary civil works plans, lightning plans, acoustic report, aboriginal cultural heritage report, environmental effects study, traffic report, economic modelling and maybe other work done to lodge. Those things need to be put out for public comment and also assessed by DELWP or Wyndham and have input from service authorities eg VicRoads, transport for Victoria, floodplain manager, registered aboriginal party, drainage authority, electricity, gas, etc.

It could take as little as 3-4 months if no one objects, or it could take a couple of years if it’s run poorly and there’s community angst.

Importantly, don’t forget, theoretically, it could be refused outright if it doesn’t stack up in the planning process. However I doubt that would be the case here.

How long is a piece of string.

In my experience, with this sort of stuff, it can be very long indeed.