The West Australian Football Commission has remarkably rejected the idea of their state holding a third AFL side, as the league now looks increasingly likely to hand the Northern Territory its first team.
The entity, also known as WAFC, is allegedly fearful of a wedge being thrown between a new club and the two current clubs that play under them in Fremantle and West Coast.
Speaking on Fox Footy’s Midweek Tackle, Herald Sun reporter Sam Landsberger revealed that due to WA’s unwillingness for another club in their state, Northern Territory have undoubtedly become the frontrunner for a 20th AFL licence.
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“It sounds like a 20th licence is inevitable… we’re clearly going to have a bye with 19 clubs from 2028; I don’t think that will last for long,” Landsberger opened by saying.
“I thought WA made sense, but WA football commission thinks otherwise – they don’t want a third AFL club in their state, that surprised me.
“Put a line through it right now, WA footy is run a little bit differently with the WAFC; they own the licences for West Coast and Fremantle; it’s a pretty powerful entity.”
Western Australia has commonly been referenced as the most logical state to create an extra team in, given its population, strong AFL supporting base and their consistent ability to turn up and watch both Fremantle and West Coast.
However, the WAFC has thrown all that aside in fear of a ‘chasm’ between the proposed trio.
“They don’t want a chasm between their two existing clubs and a third club; they look at Melbourne and they look at the powerhouses and the North Melbourne’s, and they don’t want a club that would come in and not be able to sell out Optus
Stadium,” continued Landsberger.
“All roads lead to the ‘Top End’ (Darwin).”
Fellow Herald Sun journalists Lauren Wood and Jay Clark agreed with their colleague, noting that the league’s recent push for more games and responsibility for the state in hosting matches is a sure indication of their future thinking.
“That seems to be the narrative that’s coming out of (AFL) HQ, we’re seeing more and more fixturing in Northern Territory, we’ve got the AFLW, there’s going to be a Dreamtime game played up in Darwin as well… as you say, it seems that way – Damien Hardwick spoke glowingly about it also,” Wood said.
“I think you have to have one at the ‘Top End’, because we celebrate the top end of Australia a lot… there has to be a 20th team, because when you look at the broad brush – a 19th team doesn’t make any money for the competition, it’s a bye not an extra game,” Clark added.
Clark went on to mention the added revenue for the competition that would come with the addition of a 20th side, before Landsberger questioned the concept.
“So the extra game you’re adding is Northern Territory versus Tasmania? That argument’s overblown, I don’t think this is going to spark the broadcast deal through the roof, I don’t think it’s going to add a whole lot of dollars,” Landsberger said.
“They’ve got an attitude of: ‘It’s a gateway to Asia, we could play games in Alice Springs and Cairns, and we could even bring in two conferences if we have 20 teams; so that’s some of their thoughts as well.”
Darwin hosted matches in back-to-back weeks across Rounds 9 and 10, where Gold Coast smashed both North Melbourne and Geelong respectively.
Alice Springs will get its first and only taste of an AFL match this Sunday afternoon, as Melbourne host Fremantle at Traeger Park for the third and final match in the Northern Territory this season.
Cairns hasn’t hosted an AFL match since Round 7 in 2022, while the league’s venture to Asia has been left untouched since pre-COVID, with Port Adelaide and St Kilda the last to play at China’s Jiangwan Stadium in Round 11, 2019.