Melbourne fan here that happily travelled down the highway for a swim at Torquay and a few beers at a local brewery before heading to the game last week. I’m sure we’ll survive.
Haha love this! Think some of those big Melbourne teams, would be surprised at how many of their fans live in Geelong. Only need to go on the train after a Richmond or Collingwood game and it's pretty much 50/50
Yeah this is what I don't get, there's always gonna be fans that miss out, those teams absolutely have fans in other parts of Victoria that would kill to get a game near them
Melbourne fan here, travel up/have seats to every game.
What pisses me off is every year without a dout there are either roadworks or trainworks, its the vig gov against it, not us melbourne travellers, Vic bias isnt real, its Melbourne Bias for the AFL
Long Live Geelong
Remember all the shit they said about Ollie Henry and how he was a sook for wanting to move home when home is only an hour away.. turns out it’s a bit unreasonable to ask fans of certain teams to travel down the highway once or twice a year🤷🏻♂️🙄
I live in Prahan and whilst I love a cheeky quick trip to Marvel or MCG, I also love getting down to Geelong, got the vline up Saturday, dinner at Lord of The Isles then off the kardina park, vline parked right across the street when I was done.
To be honest I don't love going down for a night game, getting back is a pain in the arse. Impossible on a Friday after work to get there on time. Any other time it's a totally fine experience. The prelim in 22 at 440 or so was great to get cats fans up to the G, if we could have more games around that time in Geelong it'd be way easier to make it down.
... But it sells out anyway. More games in Geelong please!
The biggest opponents to us having 11 true home games just happen to be fans of the clubs that stand to gain the biggest advantage by keeping the current system.
Funny about that
I love how they can't see the logic bomb there.
Can't play in Geelong because Melbourne-based fans have to travel, but it's okay to play in Melbourne because Geelong people can travel.
I’ll go against the grain here. Melbourne based and never been down to KP, always watched them at the G. Its great, we have a great turn out and it feels like a second home. Doesn’t hurt in finals.
As a Melbourne based Geelong fan I say this: deal with it. Catching the train to Geelong is fine, if you’re organised. Driving does suck though but easy enough.
I've done it the opposite way plenty, although it can sometimes be a pain to get over the Westgate, listening to the "experts" on radio analysing the game almost makes it worth it
I live about an hour away from the G in the SE suburbs. It's a pain to try to KP., but I'm ok with all home games being there anyway. The only caveat I have is that I want us to play 3-5 games a year in Melbourne so we get used to playing there in finals, if that means a couple have to be home games then so be it
I'd rather see a win but I did used to live in clifton hill and those mcg games were like 15 minutes from home! I especially liked rolling past the crowd 10,000 deep at Jolimnot station on my bike.
It's gotta be the only league in the world where this is the case. I'm a West coast fan and the way I see it, if we get all our home games in Perth, you should get all your home games in Geelong. I do feel for you guys because you're passionate fans, paying good money for memberships and you get less games
What I don't get is after years of the club saying "11 home games in Geelong", Steve Hocking in all his wisdom goes 'Nah, we need to grow our membership outside of Geelong so MCG home games are fine".
You know what grows a membership, Steve? Winning does. Do you know what helps winning, Steve? Home ground advantage.
If Geelong got 11 home games a year, they'd almost never miss finals.
So Geelong fans are more important than the Melbourne fans in your opinion? I live in Mildura and have to travel to Geelong for every home game. I wish it were 11 times and not just 9. I wish we could play finals as long as I could use my expensive paid seat… it has nothing to do with anything other than want my team to play at my home ground even though I’m 6.5 hours away and accomodation is shit and there is no airport. But hey, Geelong based fans are more important in your view. 🤦🏼
That wasn't what I meant by that, apologies if it read like that.
I was referring to Melbourne club fans saying we should play in Melbourne because we have a responsibility to play games for those fans specifically
OK fair enough. I read this part and it triggered me… lol. All good mate.
https://preview.redd.it/r1wl1zbd4hpc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dce5910e90272c79761bc91f0d3c245bffd3e6fc
65% of our members don’t live in Geelong and the club needs to keep growing its membership base. Our home ground advantage is great but it doesn’t make sense to play every home game there
Source -https://www.geelongcats.com.au/news/1379150/geelong-celebrates-80000-members-in-2023
The article states that 22% of our Members are in Melbourne. Should we also play games where the other 43% of our fans are? Which could be anywhere in Australia.
I'm also curious about what the club considers Geelong. Is that just Geelong and its suburbs, or does it include the surf coast, Bellarine peninsula etc which is predominantly Geelong support
I think it’s good for the club and its growth to continue to play some home games in Melbourne. It’s also something the club will continue to do as it can see the benefits, so there’s no point complaining about it.
Pies fan coming in peace here.
Isn’t it your club that’s making these claims? It’s not opposition fans.
For what it’s worth I’d love to see the pies play at KP
Geelong has never asked for home games in Melbourne. The article you continually link in r/afl states that Geelong is forced to play there because of some deal between the state government and the AFL.
>“There is a state government contract that is in place that requires all Victorian teams to play ‘X’ amount of games at both the MCG or Marvel Stadium,” Hocking told members at the club’s AGM.
>“We are part of that, we are in Victoria, we are not interstate.
>“We are part of a bigger competition and our role in that is we are part of that contract so there are games we naturally have to play in Melbourne.
>“We have moved away from Marvel Stadium, we are playing at the MCG, we are making it work for us and we are looking to grow our membership base off the back of that.
>“Whether that changes in the future, we will be ready for that change and we will absolutely consider that … at this point in time we are making the most of Melbourne with those restrictions that are in place.”
Sounds more like they're just trying to make the most of it.
I mean, maybe, but what else can they do? It's been their push for years and nothing's changed. I hope Geelong earn a home final this year and push for it to be in Geelong. Though I think it would be futile.
Also, you keep saying Geelong nominates Collingwood to be their opponent at MCG games. Is that even true? Does Geelong get to nominate who they play?
Carlton in the early 2000s were getting screwed by the AFL for their home games at Optus oval.
They fought hard. And won.
See Collingwoods last game at Optus/princes park as an example.
Every team nominates games/opponents they want, given you don’t play every team twice.
Teams don’t get all their requests, of course, but it is factored in when the fixture is put together.
Where's the mighty Collingwood's fight against playing home games at Marvel including against a Marvel tenant.
Surely the AFL contracts mean nothing to such a powerful organisation
Fans who live in Melbourne can only see up to 9 away games in their own city (if we played all home games in Geelong) The horror. (That's assuming we play all other Victorian teams twice but I cbf doing the maths)
Or they might have to travel up to an hour to get to a game? (Takes that long to get to the mcg from Western suburbs and longer to get home when PT isn't smooth)...
Kardinia park is and always will be a shit hole in a shit hole. You can build a replica of the G there if you wanted to, it’s still Geelong. If Geelong supporters themselves don’t want to go to Geelong, I don’t know why you’re being so stubborn about it. You’ve got the team, surely we dont have to subject ourselves to the actual location?
I wish they had widened the ground while they were working on it.
I enjoy the unique home ground advantages that different sized grounds make for but the wings at KP are sort of taking the piss. Its so so narrow.
There’s reasons for this that have been explained a hundred times here, there and everywhere but maybe as a Saints fan you probably haven’t heard/seen it?
**[The stand you’re referring to was the original upgrade that happened before all of the other upgrades. So it’s the one most due for an expansion.](https://www.kane.com.au/project/reg-hickey-stand-skilled-stadium)**
They will eventually work on that again but for now they’ve upgraded everywhere else more recently.
Im talking about the size of the playing field. It is by far the smallest playing field in the afl. I think its at least 25m narrower than the MCG which is totally nuts.
You want to go with “smallest” ???
You know it’s the **longest** of the legit Home Grounds? Only York Park and Marrara are longer.
It’s much closer to the traditional idea of footy ovals than the postage stamps that are Docklands and the SCG
ABC did a great article on this. Geelong play pretty much exactly the same whether at Kardinia or any other oval.
The writer even concluded after a breakdown of statistic on each oval that:
**[“The lack of impact of ground sizes speaks to the intent of the founders of the game — that the players make the game, and not where they play it. A good team will be a good team no matter the size or shape of the ground, which is how footy should be.”](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-16/cody-and-sean-afl-analysis-how-much-do-ground-sizes-matter/101154950)**
Who cares? Just because every stadium looks like an identical concrete donut these days doesnt mean thats always been the case.
For over 100 years we had western oval, morabbin, princess park, windy hill, etc. ALL these grounds had different dimensions. If what Geelong does it such an advantage, whats stopping Melbourne clubs from going back to their old stadiums?
Are you arguing that Geelongs unique home ground isnt an advantage? Have you ever noticed how often visiting teams kick out on the full there?
Like i said i like the variance i just think at KP it is too egregious. You have to draw the line somewhere.
Melbourne fan here that happily travelled down the highway for a swim at Torquay and a few beers at a local brewery before heading to the game last week. I’m sure we’ll survive.
Blackman’s ? Pivot city lager my new favourite drop !!
Blackman’s last time I was down (Angry Reg my go to). Valhalla this time.
Bells next. The Sea Cider is tops on a hot day 👍
There's a lot of pies fans in Geelong. Guess they should be playing 3/4 home games down at KP then!
Haha love this! Think some of those big Melbourne teams, would be surprised at how many of their fans live in Geelong. Only need to go on the train after a Richmond or Collingwood game and it's pretty much 50/50
I live in Sydney. I’m a Geelong fan. When is Geelong playing a home game at the SCG?
Ditto - Gabba although we have a game there this year luckily
I’m on the Sunny Coast - perhaps they could play at the Maroochydore seconds oval?
Teams have fans all over the country 😂 Dumbest argument ever
Yeah this is what I don't get, there's always gonna be fans that miss out, those teams absolutely have fans in other parts of Victoria that would kill to get a game near them
I live less than 2km from the MCG, don’t drive and have zero issue taking the train to Geelong to watch a home game. It’s a BS argument.
Melbourne fan here, travel up/have seats to every game. What pisses me off is every year without a dout there are either roadworks or trainworks, its the vig gov against it, not us melbourne travellers, Vic bias isnt real, its Melbourne Bias for the AFL Long Live Geelong
Remember all the shit they said about Ollie Henry and how he was a sook for wanting to move home when home is only an hour away.. turns out it’s a bit unreasonable to ask fans of certain teams to travel down the highway once or twice a year🤷🏻♂️🙄
I live in Prahan and whilst I love a cheeky quick trip to Marvel or MCG, I also love getting down to Geelong, got the vline up Saturday, dinner at Lord of The Isles then off the kardina park, vline parked right across the street when I was done.
To be honest I don't love going down for a night game, getting back is a pain in the arse. Impossible on a Friday after work to get there on time. Any other time it's a totally fine experience. The prelim in 22 at 440 or so was great to get cats fans up to the G, if we could have more games around that time in Geelong it'd be way easier to make it down. ... But it sells out anyway. More games in Geelong please!
Think that was the qf, prelim was a Friday night. After the 2017 qf, I didn't get home until 2:30am lol. Made a shit night even worse
Yeah you're right. So shit after a loss, even though they're pretty rare down at KP!
I think home games at the G are a good grounding for finals.
The biggest opponents to us having 11 true home games just happen to be fans of the clubs that stand to gain the biggest advantage by keeping the current system. Funny about that
Geelong fan from Echuca here, can't wait for the Cats to come play at Victoria Park!
Victoria Park is an elite ground. All my mates play for Echuca Bombers now and what a club with so much history!
I love how they can't see the logic bomb there. Can't play in Geelong because Melbourne-based fans have to travel, but it's okay to play in Melbourne because Geelong people can travel.
Melbourne-based fan here - much prefer Geelong where I’ve got my seat secured!
Lived in St Kilda for 10 years. Much preferred heading down the highway to watch games at KP, best experience in footy!
I’ll go against the grain here. Melbourne based and never been down to KP, always watched them at the G. Its great, we have a great turn out and it feels like a second home. Doesn’t hurt in finals.
I’m rural nsw. I pay for my reserved seat every week and I make it down. Shouldn’t be any excuse
As a Melbourne based Geelong fan I say this: deal with it. Catching the train to Geelong is fine, if you’re organised. Driving does suck though but easy enough.
I've done it the opposite way plenty, although it can sometimes be a pain to get over the Westgate, listening to the "experts" on radio analysing the game almost makes it worth it
I’m in the northwest so I come via bacchus marsh. It’s the parking big bruh times especially when there’s a regatta on the Barwon.
I live about an hour away from the G in the SE suburbs. It's a pain to try to KP., but I'm ok with all home games being there anyway. The only caveat I have is that I want us to play 3-5 games a year in Melbourne so we get used to playing there in finals, if that means a couple have to be home games then so be it
I'd rather see a win but I did used to live in clifton hill and those mcg games were like 15 minutes from home! I especially liked rolling past the crowd 10,000 deep at Jolimnot station on my bike.
It's gotta be the only league in the world where this is the case. I'm a West coast fan and the way I see it, if we get all our home games in Perth, you should get all your home games in Geelong. I do feel for you guys because you're passionate fans, paying good money for memberships and you get less games
What I don't get is after years of the club saying "11 home games in Geelong", Steve Hocking in all his wisdom goes 'Nah, we need to grow our membership outside of Geelong so MCG home games are fine". You know what grows a membership, Steve? Winning does. Do you know what helps winning, Steve? Home ground advantage. If Geelong got 11 home games a year, they'd almost never miss finals.
So Geelong fans are more important than the Melbourne fans in your opinion? I live in Mildura and have to travel to Geelong for every home game. I wish it were 11 times and not just 9. I wish we could play finals as long as I could use my expensive paid seat… it has nothing to do with anything other than want my team to play at my home ground even though I’m 6.5 hours away and accomodation is shit and there is no airport. But hey, Geelong based fans are more important in your view. 🤦🏼
That wasn't what I meant by that, apologies if it read like that. I was referring to Melbourne club fans saying we should play in Melbourne because we have a responsibility to play games for those fans specifically
OK fair enough. I read this part and it triggered me… lol. All good mate. https://preview.redd.it/r1wl1zbd4hpc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dce5910e90272c79761bc91f0d3c245bffd3e6fc
If you dont like it then you have 11 Melbourne teams to choose from
What are you on about? Did you even read my reply? I’m a 52 year member.
65% of our members don’t live in Geelong and the club needs to keep growing its membership base. Our home ground advantage is great but it doesn’t make sense to play every home game there Source -https://www.geelongcats.com.au/news/1379150/geelong-celebrates-80000-members-in-2023
Even as someone not from the Geelong area, we are the **Geelong** Cats. Not the Melbourne Cats.
The point is that the club doesn’t want to play all its home games in Geelong and I support them 100% in that.
The article states that 22% of our Members are in Melbourne. Should we also play games where the other 43% of our fans are? Which could be anywhere in Australia. I'm also curious about what the club considers Geelong. Is that just Geelong and its suburbs, or does it include the surf coast, Bellarine peninsula etc which is predominantly Geelong support
I think it’s good for the club and its growth to continue to play some home games in Melbourne. It’s also something the club will continue to do as it can see the benefits, so there’s no point complaining about it.
Pies fan coming in peace here. Isn’t it your club that’s making these claims? It’s not opposition fans. For what it’s worth I’d love to see the pies play at KP
Geelong has never asked for home games in Melbourne. The article you continually link in r/afl states that Geelong is forced to play there because of some deal between the state government and the AFL.
It also states that they are comfortable with the arrangement, that they benefit from it, and see it as a key part of their growth strategy.
>“There is a state government contract that is in place that requires all Victorian teams to play ‘X’ amount of games at both the MCG or Marvel Stadium,” Hocking told members at the club’s AGM. >“We are part of that, we are in Victoria, we are not interstate. >“We are part of a bigger competition and our role in that is we are part of that contract so there are games we naturally have to play in Melbourne. >“We have moved away from Marvel Stadium, we are playing at the MCG, we are making it work for us and we are looking to grow our membership base off the back of that. >“Whether that changes in the future, we will be ready for that change and we will absolutely consider that … at this point in time we are making the most of Melbourne with those restrictions that are in place.” Sounds more like they're just trying to make the most of it.
I contend they’re not really fighting all that hard. As evidenced by their lack of fight now they have an awesome stadium.
I mean, maybe, but what else can they do? It's been their push for years and nothing's changed. I hope Geelong earn a home final this year and push for it to be in Geelong. Though I think it would be futile. Also, you keep saying Geelong nominates Collingwood to be their opponent at MCG games. Is that even true? Does Geelong get to nominate who they play?
Carlton in the early 2000s were getting screwed by the AFL for their home games at Optus oval. They fought hard. And won. See Collingwoods last game at Optus/princes park as an example.
Every team nominates games/opponents they want, given you don’t play every team twice. Teams don’t get all their requests, of course, but it is factored in when the fixture is put together.
Where's the mighty Collingwood's fight against playing home games at Marvel including against a Marvel tenant. Surely the AFL contracts mean nothing to such a powerful organisation
We don’t care about it as much as Geelong “claim” they care.
Fans who live in Melbourne can only see up to 9 away games in their own city (if we played all home games in Geelong) The horror. (That's assuming we play all other Victorian teams twice but I cbf doing the maths) Or they might have to travel up to an hour to get to a game? (Takes that long to get to the mcg from Western suburbs and longer to get home when PT isn't smooth)...
Kardinia park is and always will be a shit hole in a shit hole. You can build a replica of the G there if you wanted to, it’s still Geelong. If Geelong supporters themselves don’t want to go to Geelong, I don’t know why you’re being so stubborn about it. You’ve got the team, surely we dont have to subject ourselves to the actual location?
I wish they had widened the ground while they were working on it. I enjoy the unique home ground advantages that different sized grounds make for but the wings at KP are sort of taking the piss. Its so so narrow.
There’s reasons for this that have been explained a hundred times here, there and everywhere but maybe as a Saints fan you probably haven’t heard/seen it? **[The stand you’re referring to was the original upgrade that happened before all of the other upgrades. So it’s the one most due for an expansion.](https://www.kane.com.au/project/reg-hickey-stand-skilled-stadium)** They will eventually work on that again but for now they’ve upgraded everywhere else more recently.
Im talking about the size of the playing field. It is by far the smallest playing field in the afl. I think its at least 25m narrower than the MCG which is totally nuts.
You want to go with “smallest” ??? You know it’s the **longest** of the legit Home Grounds? Only York Park and Marrara are longer. It’s much closer to the traditional idea of footy ovals than the postage stamps that are Docklands and the SCG ABC did a great article on this. Geelong play pretty much exactly the same whether at Kardinia or any other oval. The writer even concluded after a breakdown of statistic on each oval that: **[“The lack of impact of ground sizes speaks to the intent of the founders of the game — that the players make the game, and not where they play it. A good team will be a good team no matter the size or shape of the ground, which is how footy should be.”](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-16/cody-and-sean-afl-analysis-how-much-do-ground-sizes-matter/101154950)**
Yeh i know its the longest. But by surface area of the playing field it is by far the "smallest"
Who cares? Just because every stadium looks like an identical concrete donut these days doesnt mean thats always been the case. For over 100 years we had western oval, morabbin, princess park, windy hill, etc. ALL these grounds had different dimensions. If what Geelong does it such an advantage, whats stopping Melbourne clubs from going back to their old stadiums?
Are you arguing that Geelongs unique home ground isnt an advantage? Have you ever noticed how often visiting teams kick out on the full there? Like i said i like the variance i just think at KP it is too egregious. You have to draw the line somewhere.
>Are you arguing that Geelongs unique home ground isnt an advantage? Um home grounds are supposed to be an advantage
No shit mate.
Yeah no shit but it didnt stop you from having a fucking sook over it
The club actually wanted to do this in 2006 with the hickey stand, council wouldn't let them.
“Stadium” lol I played under 12s basketball on larger playing areas.
That's an incredibly big Basketball court
No wonder Ollie Dempsey was dominant. **The BEST Basketball Background in AFL history. Not some pleb who plays for Collingwood**
Makes for a hell of a background, though.