How far has Victory tumbled in 5 years.  30,083 v Wanderers at Etihad in 2014/15.  Just over half that last night.

5k at Geelong (even though they said it was 6.8k)

Mr negative at it again. Story of many in our game ur seems.

i was at the game and the crowd figure was about right. WU did a good job at getting the kids to come along for an opening ceremony lap of the field with their clubs. 

Likely quite a few non-paying people there, but they are damned if they do, damned if they don’t. It’s about getting people interested in the product, and I think that the game was a good advertisement for them going forward.

VLine has extra train services from and to Melbourne which were good.

8,910 Mariners v Jets 

MyFootball website says attendance at Geelong was 6088

Ultimate A League has it as 6,888 - they’re normally right 

They have occasionally got it wrong. OneFootball app says 6088 as well.

Closer to the truth at least...

Less than last season

Libel, R U on the AFL payroll to talk down Hal.... if not you should be...

And other sites have never got it wrong or what?? 

This site has typically deferred to Ultimate A League for these stats and probably best we stick to that, otherwise everyone will start throwing random numbers out as “fact” - then where would we be? 

Austadiums is more accurate imo
And they quote the 6888 ?

Oh Dear what a disaster start.

Did they count the seagulls and the pet members in that?

Pet memberships is fake news no clubs do it 

A # day pass counts as a membership these days so might as well sign up the cat.

New clubs first games:
Wellington - 14,421
North Queensland - 8,897
Gold Coast - 7,526
Melbourne Heart - 11,050
Western Sydney - 10,458
Western United - 6,088

It is what it is. They're football is good and that in the end is all that can be done done to bring people back. 

Except they werent brought in for that reason

14 teams were knocked back for WU and they havent offered anything. A homeless team that consists largely of ex-A League players with an ex-A League coach. You could have given any of the existing A League teams the extra $400k and would have ended up with the same on field result

And if success is the only thing that will attract their fans then what happens to them when their success is no longer guarenteed?

Our next TV deal depends on a successful expansion. The whole point of the fish where the fish were mentality was to introduce bigger off field clubs so the A League as a whole has value. Either somebody lied during the presentation to the FFA or they simply took the largest cash on offer knowing they were going to lose control of the league

They are a third Melbourne team playing an hour and a half from their base. The whole thing has been more successful than I expected. 
Looking to have more genuine and enthusiastic support than GWS.

Any evidence of that or are you just making shit up again?

Your first sentence states that you didnt expect them to be successful at all. So you are saying they have been more successful than not successful at all. This isnt a good thing. Choosing expansion teams is a multi million dollar exercise that can shape the future of the league. The usual forum "not bad considering" doesnt come into the equation

GWS was a shameless cash grab. The AFL managed to get $250m added to the TV deal for their 2 teams, plus they had venues upgraded for them. And while GWS will now always feature in the top half of the table (like the Storm), the AFL can argue the payoff was worth it

The FFA managed to get $5m for their 2 teams, and one of them now has to build a $150m venue at their own expense. There also isnt a long term plan to keep WU in the top half of the table, only a 2 year plan. We also know that venue changes are usually disruptive to support, so even if WU establish themselves as a force over the next 2 years, the support will be lost when they move

WU have been a disaster. It was the "Homer Simpson selling his shares for $25" of expansion clubs

Roars “day pass” memberships don’t count in the total. 

Like many clubs they were introduced when the dumb-fuck FFA went to war on active support and you had to be a member to get in the Den. The “day pass member” got around that but it’s not counted in the tally 

No, I thought they could be a disaster until they get their home stadium built at which point I think they could be a model team for the a-league. Western Melbourne seems like a big enough area that is growing and has no other professional sporting teams based there to the best of my knowledge. 7k in Geelong is a very similar number to what the CCM are getting, which is fine. Long term outlook but if they can grow on the back of a team playing good football, then I am happy with that. The active area is also surprisingly good.

I am want pro/rel and teams like Melbourne Knights but I dont see why people have to death ride a club that is making a decent go of it.

Fully agree.

Too many seem to be looking at it as a point scoring exercise or I told you so moment to make themselves feel better. Our game is not in a position to let this fail, whether people like it or not.

If the value in WU will not be seen for at least 3 years then they shouldnt have been introduced for at least 3 years

This is a cut throat industry where good decisions make millions and bad decisions cost millions

I'm not death riding WU. This is simply a case of if you jump in the pool then expect to get wet. The FFA made absolutely every single wrong decision with this new club. To think we could have had Canberra, Wollongong, Tasmania, South Melbourne, or even, you know, Geelong

Bozza said a long time ago that the problem with the FFA is there is no accountability. She'll be right mate. Could have been worse. Not bad considering. Everybody chillax

Instead of making shit decisions and rationalising them when they fail, at the very least we could make good decisions and rationalise them when they fail. But in an ideal world the decisions made would be well researched, well thought out, and the failure would be minimal

Its not enough to say "our game is not in a position to let their bad decisions fail"

Its more a case of "our game is not in a position to make bad decisions"

At the end of the day WU offered a bigger bag of money than anyone else and have said they are targeting Melbourne’s metrics in the West.

I am confused. Your rationale for a team in Western Melbourne is basically the same as the AFLs rationale for a team in Western Sydney.  Large growing population, relatively light on for sports teams.  The difference is, the money the AFL got for the expansion teams means they can afford to pay for these teams for a very long time.  You expect a more enthusiastic and genuine supporter base for West Melbourne than GWS, based on what?  Why would someone deciding to support an expansion team in Melbourne be more 'genuine' than a fan of an expansion team in Sydney?  What is a more genuine fan anyway?  People routinely scoff at claimed crowd figures for GWS, I have seen claims (no idea of there basis), that the actual WU crowd was under 4000, and that over 60% of the tickets were given away, so a repeat of the GWS playbook. 
If by genuine fans, you mean consistent, died in the wool supporters, the only thing that brings that is time, and GWS has a head start.  At the moment, I would consider GWS fans more 'genuine` - whatever that means.
At the moment, WU is GWS lite, with a lot less certainty around its long term future.  

Melb City v Adelaide = 7,399 

Honestly think that WU may well end up the stronger than MC, especially once they move to Tarneit.

City have upped their game this year by still can’t get more than 8k for their opening match, with decent form leading into the season and excitement around the new manager.

Might be time to try and get a deal for a stadium in Dandenong to take over from where Team 11 had got to in their discussions with stakeholders. I just can’t see City gaining significant traction unfortunately trying to continue being a bit player in the inner city. 


The appetite for AFL is likely lighter in Western Sydney than Football in the Western suburbs of Melbourne and even Geelong region, but yes the amount of money the AFL got for their expansion created a far more advantageous situation to give that a try.

WU will be a big challenge. There will likely be a few 4k type crowds this year, but I do think they can find some momentum if they keep getting results and exciting brand of football.