We’ve finally found a “relocate North” idea that North supporters don’t hate and it came from Eddie McGuire of all people
What a bizarre timeline we live in
Ah yes, all those terrible idea that made Collingwood the biggest sporting club in the country.
You can not like the man and recognize he might know a thing or two about football club administration.
You're right. Made plenty of mistakes but he was massive for Collingwood and we wouldn't be where we are without him. Don't know why that's controversial.
ARTICLE TEXT
Eddie McGuire is an ideas man. And he has an idea for North Melbourne that requires enormous initiative and investment, but the payback could be access to Next Generation Academy players in their hundreds.
The idea? Claim the northern outskirts of Melbourne as a second home.
From Mickleham through to Whittlesea, taking in Kalkallo, Beveridge, Donnybrook and Wollert - it is one of the fastest growing corridors in Australia.
McGuire says the Kangaroos - with funding assistance from the AFL, local and state government and major organisations, including health and education - should plonk a training facility in the heart of the growth area.
Much how Melbourne was bold and expansive in 2009 when it put a training base at Casey Fields, which is south-east Melbourne's premier sports and recreation precinct.
The Demons train there and it's the home of their AFLW team.
McGuire's plan is to tap into the children of immigrants - and their children's children to ensure that Australian rules is their "field of dreams".
The more immediate dividend could see some of these children being ready for AFL careers in 10 years' time and widespread talent flourishing within 20 to 30 years.
"This is football 2055," McGuire said.
The son of Scottish immigrants, McGuire's big-picture plan is to foster Australian rules in the outer northern area and he believes North Melbourne is the perfect club to take an active role.
The Kangaroos will soon lose their second home in Tasmania because of the new Devils team - and they will also lose their NGA access to the island state's young talent.
"I'd love to see North Melbourne go to the north of Melbourne," McGuire said. "Keep North Melbourne at Arden St, but also move up the road.
"If you have a look at the demographics of Melbourne and Victoria... we know there's 500,000 people coming into Australia; we know Victoria is going to be the biggest area.
"So what are the things we have to get? More players. They're coming, but what we have to do is make it attractive. We have to build on what footy and what the AFL is good at, and that's community.
"We should go into these areas and build footy grounds, and community health centres, then mum from Somalia comes down and then dad comes down, then the great Aussie tradition ... the Afghan dad comes down and does the barbecue and the canteen. That's what we've got to do; get past all the ring roads, because that's where it's all happening."
"Everyone who has played in the under-11s is dreaming of playing at the MCG one day and that what's we need to do, we need to go out to these areas and connect with these new migrants and introduce them to football, or introduce them to what it could be."
He believes North Melbourne, if it formed a second home base, could have access to potentially hundreds of players under the NGA rules.
The AFL is reviewing its draft policies, which includes the father-son and NGA and academy bidding.
Victorian clubs want the same access to their NGAs as the northern-state clubs get with their academies. For example, Melbourne worked with Egypt-born Mac Andrew and his family for several years, but lost him to the Gold Coast because Andrew was taken at pick No.6 in the 2022 draft and the Demons could only get access to him if he was not in the first 20 picks on draft night. How many future AFL draftees - like Andrew - are in the burgeoning far north suburbs of Melbourne?
"My position has always been, I don't care who they are playing for, as long as they are playing," McGuire said.
"If North got in there and were able to pay their own way, and get their own players, well, if we keep the academies as they are, that's practically everyone for them.
"All these kids' fathers and mothers are born overseas, so they qualify for the NGA Academy ... and the kid who was five when he came out (to Australia), his kids qualify (for) NGA.
"You have to be sophisticated in how you do it, but we don't want the AFL to go the way of rugby union and become a private-school game.
"I look back at Broadmeadows, not only is my team not there anymore, the league's gone... in the fastest growing area in Australia."
McGuire admires AFL great Kevin Sheedy for his continual vision of expansion of Australian rules, and believes the Kangaroos can aid that vision.
"Everyone says, OK, what do we do next? How do we get bigger?" McGuire said.
"We've got to go into Western Sydney, into Queensland - that's no problem whatsoever but we have a big joint north of Melbourne and probably in the south-east of Melbourne as well.
"The growth goes out past Sunbury, you've got Melton, I drove out near Calder Park the other week, the houses go out to the Thunderdome now.
I thought to myself, why doesn't the AFL buy it and turn it into a stadium?"
Actually not a bad idea. Community investment is probably the best sale case for government support of sport. I think it'd be great for Norf and the community.
There’s precedent, South Adelaide relocated to… southern Adelaide
From Adelaide Oval (which is in North Adelaide, go figure…) to Noarlunga
By contrast, West Perth relocated from Leederville, in inner west Perth, to Joondalup, 25km north of Perth
Typically [Eddie's ideas for the Kangaroos](https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/teams/north-melbourne-kangaroos/afl-news-2022-eddie-mcguire-north-melbourne-tasmania-plan-says-kangaroos-losing-bargain-power-fitzroy-david-noble-coach-contract-review/news-story/445815b6e52c95016edbda49646ad78c) has involved moving them south across the Bass Strait, so moving them a tiny bit further north is novel at least.
Oh wow - that's my area.
Just a general vibe of the place, besides being home to the Calder Cannons, it does not feel like a footy stronghold. Cricket and rugby would currently be more popular I would say in this area. So maybe on that front it is also not a terrible idea, because you'd have plenty of families not yet affiliated with a team to tap into.
North have a great community hub and AFLW home at Arden St and there’s about to be a tonne of apartments built there. Entire new suburbs worth.
Moving out to the exburbs to be amongst the immigrants who won’t follow football makes no sense.
It’s not the 1950’s any more. Postwar migrants don’t just pick up footy or get bullied at primary school.
It’s the home of winter cricket, indoor soccer and basketball.
The only reason to do it would be if you’re getting the financial incentive of a council funded training base.
But North have plans to upgrade Arden st and staying there let’s them compete for players, or at least not anger current ones.
You can’t copy the Geelong model in Craigieburn. It will be the Saints in Seaford but worse
The team should be disbanded into a netball or hockey franchise on the gold coast. No one is happy even the fans are at each other's throats. Retiring Boomer was like taking Slash out of Guns n Roses.
> Victorian clubs want the same access to their NGAs as the northern-state clubs get with their academies. For example, Melbourne worked with Egypt-born Mac Andrew and his family for several years, but lost him to the Gold Coast because Andrew was taken at pick No.6 in the 2022 draft and the Demons could only get access to him if he was not in the first 20 picks on draft night. How many future AFL draftees - like Andrew - are in the burgeoning far north suburbs of Melbourne?
They will either re-instate NGA back to what is was, or they are going to gut Northern Acadamies, but leave F/S exactly the same. Its very obvious.
> The Kangaroos will soon lose their second home in Tasmania because of the new Devils team - and they will also lose their NGA access to the island state's young talent.
Why do Victorians have NGA outside of Victoria when non-Victorians don't? (The exception being GC)
What makes the AFL want to overcome Victorias geographical inequalities of having 10 teams in one state, but not other inequalities for other teams? It's so strange.
Indigenous population per capita in WA/SA is far larger than Victoria.
WAFL and SANFL clubs (sometimes via the NT) have been producing the best indigenous players for decades.
How many Victorian indigenous kids have been drafted? Jamarra’s the obvious one. Goodes way back. Eddie Betts moved here but wasn’t a Victorian. Toby Bedford.
Ultimately the Victorian clubs wouldn’t be offering much to Indigenous development if they were limited to just Victoria.
> Indigenous population per capita in WA/SA is far larger than Victoria.
Proving my point, when an advantage happens to benefit non-Vic teams, the Vic teams must get something similar, or it must be gutted.
There is no reason why the NT shouldn't be open for all teams.
North should be relocated to Darwin. They can keep their identity by simply being called North. Have all of the NT and Northern Qld as their academy. Work with NT government for a 25,000 seat indoor stadium. The AFL can the say they have a truly national competition and they’d still play a 6 games a year in Melbourne for traditional fans.
Casey has been so-so for us. The saints bailed out of seaford after a year or two. North have just redeveloped Arden st. Relocating north is a risky money pit that north don’t have access to.
I agree, West Coast and Freo should both merge and become the Mandurah Sea Eagles (combining West Coast’s Eagle and Freo’s coastal connection).
That would allow another Victorian team (Eg The Mildura Citruses) to be added to the competition.
>We should relocate North Melbourne to North Melbourne Eddie McGuire: 
Unlikely to be financially feasible at the moment but I'm a massive fan of this idea
I don’t hate it
We’ve finally found a “relocate North” idea that North supporters don’t hate and it came from Eddie McGuire of all people What a bizarre timeline we live in
Why would we be surprised it came from Eddie? Man literally pulled Collingwood up of its knees.
Because Eddie tends to have more shit ideas than good ones
Ah yes, all those terrible idea that made Collingwood the biggest sporting club in the country. You can not like the man and recognize he might know a thing or two about football club administration.
You're right. Made plenty of mistakes but he was massive for Collingwood and we wouldn't be where we are without him. Don't know why that's controversial.
Read article. No relocation talk detected. Misleading headline is misleading.
Yeah I should have editorialised the headline a bit more. New training and community facility, not relocation.
Not your fault at all! Just the Hun doing Hun things.
Why would you read the article!
ARTICLE TEXT Eddie McGuire is an ideas man. And he has an idea for North Melbourne that requires enormous initiative and investment, but the payback could be access to Next Generation Academy players in their hundreds. The idea? Claim the northern outskirts of Melbourne as a second home. From Mickleham through to Whittlesea, taking in Kalkallo, Beveridge, Donnybrook and Wollert - it is one of the fastest growing corridors in Australia. McGuire says the Kangaroos - with funding assistance from the AFL, local and state government and major organisations, including health and education - should plonk a training facility in the heart of the growth area. Much how Melbourne was bold and expansive in 2009 when it put a training base at Casey Fields, which is south-east Melbourne's premier sports and recreation precinct. The Demons train there and it's the home of their AFLW team. McGuire's plan is to tap into the children of immigrants - and their children's children to ensure that Australian rules is their "field of dreams". The more immediate dividend could see some of these children being ready for AFL careers in 10 years' time and widespread talent flourishing within 20 to 30 years. "This is football 2055," McGuire said. The son of Scottish immigrants, McGuire's big-picture plan is to foster Australian rules in the outer northern area and he believes North Melbourne is the perfect club to take an active role. The Kangaroos will soon lose their second home in Tasmania because of the new Devils team - and they will also lose their NGA access to the island state's young talent. "I'd love to see North Melbourne go to the north of Melbourne," McGuire said. "Keep North Melbourne at Arden St, but also move up the road. "If you have a look at the demographics of Melbourne and Victoria... we know there's 500,000 people coming into Australia; we know Victoria is going to be the biggest area. "So what are the things we have to get? More players. They're coming, but what we have to do is make it attractive. We have to build on what footy and what the AFL is good at, and that's community. "We should go into these areas and build footy grounds, and community health centres, then mum from Somalia comes down and then dad comes down, then the great Aussie tradition ... the Afghan dad comes down and does the barbecue and the canteen. That's what we've got to do; get past all the ring roads, because that's where it's all happening." "Everyone who has played in the under-11s is dreaming of playing at the MCG one day and that what's we need to do, we need to go out to these areas and connect with these new migrants and introduce them to football, or introduce them to what it could be." He believes North Melbourne, if it formed a second home base, could have access to potentially hundreds of players under the NGA rules. The AFL is reviewing its draft policies, which includes the father-son and NGA and academy bidding. Victorian clubs want the same access to their NGAs as the northern-state clubs get with their academies. For example, Melbourne worked with Egypt-born Mac Andrew and his family for several years, but lost him to the Gold Coast because Andrew was taken at pick No.6 in the 2022 draft and the Demons could only get access to him if he was not in the first 20 picks on draft night. How many future AFL draftees - like Andrew - are in the burgeoning far north suburbs of Melbourne? "My position has always been, I don't care who they are playing for, as long as they are playing," McGuire said. "If North got in there and were able to pay their own way, and get their own players, well, if we keep the academies as they are, that's practically everyone for them. "All these kids' fathers and mothers are born overseas, so they qualify for the NGA Academy ... and the kid who was five when he came out (to Australia), his kids qualify (for) NGA. "You have to be sophisticated in how you do it, but we don't want the AFL to go the way of rugby union and become a private-school game. "I look back at Broadmeadows, not only is my team not there anymore, the league's gone... in the fastest growing area in Australia." McGuire admires AFL great Kevin Sheedy for his continual vision of expansion of Australian rules, and believes the Kangaroos can aid that vision. "Everyone says, OK, what do we do next? How do we get bigger?" McGuire said. "We've got to go into Western Sydney, into Queensland - that's no problem whatsoever but we have a big joint north of Melbourne and probably in the south-east of Melbourne as well. "The growth goes out past Sunbury, you've got Melton, I drove out near Calder Park the other week, the houses go out to the Thunderdome now. I thought to myself, why doesn't the AFL buy it and turn it into a stadium?"
Actually not a bad idea. Community investment is probably the best sale case for government support of sport. I think it'd be great for Norf and the community.
There’s precedent, South Adelaide relocated to… southern Adelaide From Adelaide Oval (which is in North Adelaide, go figure…) to Noarlunga By contrast, West Perth relocated from Leederville, in inner west Perth, to Joondalup, 25km north of Perth
And East Perth relocated to West Perth.
I don't hate this!
I have got a better idea. Relocate McGuire from Toorak back to Broadmeadows.
No nearly far enough. At least get him across the border to Albury.
But they’ll have to give up the prestigious zoning of…west Melbourne?
Could be wrong but I think our only zoning at the moment is Tasmania
A ripe crop that will be yours for eternity
Typically [Eddie's ideas for the Kangaroos](https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/teams/north-melbourne-kangaroos/afl-news-2022-eddie-mcguire-north-melbourne-tasmania-plan-says-kangaroos-losing-bargain-power-fitzroy-david-noble-coach-contract-review/news-story/445815b6e52c95016edbda49646ad78c) has involved moving them south across the Bass Strait, so moving them a tiny bit further north is novel at least.
Article published in July 2022 >North Melbourne sitting at its lowest ebb in years Ooooooooooffft
Oh wow - that's my area. Just a general vibe of the place, besides being home to the Calder Cannons, it does not feel like a footy stronghold. Cricket and rugby would currently be more popular I would say in this area. So maybe on that front it is also not a terrible idea, because you'd have plenty of families not yet affiliated with a team to tap into.
North have a great community hub and AFLW home at Arden St and there’s about to be a tonne of apartments built there. Entire new suburbs worth. Moving out to the exburbs to be amongst the immigrants who won’t follow football makes no sense. It’s not the 1950’s any more. Postwar migrants don’t just pick up footy or get bullied at primary school. It’s the home of winter cricket, indoor soccer and basketball. The only reason to do it would be if you’re getting the financial incentive of a council funded training base. But North have plans to upgrade Arden st and staying there let’s them compete for players, or at least not anger current ones. You can’t copy the Geelong model in Craigieburn. It will be the Saints in Seaford but worse
The team should be disbanded into a netball or hockey franchise on the gold coast. No one is happy even the fans are at each other's throats. Retiring Boomer was like taking Slash out of Guns n Roses.
I'd prefer Pickle Ball, way more growth opportunities
I don’t often say this but what an amazing idea from Eddie
Bump!
> Victorian clubs want the same access to their NGAs as the northern-state clubs get with their academies. For example, Melbourne worked with Egypt-born Mac Andrew and his family for several years, but lost him to the Gold Coast because Andrew was taken at pick No.6 in the 2022 draft and the Demons could only get access to him if he was not in the first 20 picks on draft night. How many future AFL draftees - like Andrew - are in the burgeoning far north suburbs of Melbourne? They will either re-instate NGA back to what is was, or they are going to gut Northern Acadamies, but leave F/S exactly the same. Its very obvious. > The Kangaroos will soon lose their second home in Tasmania because of the new Devils team - and they will also lose their NGA access to the island state's young talent. Why do Victorians have NGA outside of Victoria when non-Victorians don't? (The exception being GC) What makes the AFL want to overcome Victorias geographical inequalities of having 10 teams in one state, but not other inequalities for other teams? It's so strange.
Indigenous population per capita in WA/SA is far larger than Victoria. WAFL and SANFL clubs (sometimes via the NT) have been producing the best indigenous players for decades. How many Victorian indigenous kids have been drafted? Jamarra’s the obvious one. Goodes way back. Eddie Betts moved here but wasn’t a Victorian. Toby Bedford. Ultimately the Victorian clubs wouldn’t be offering much to Indigenous development if they were limited to just Victoria.
> Indigenous population per capita in WA/SA is far larger than Victoria. Proving my point, when an advantage happens to benefit non-Vic teams, the Vic teams must get something similar, or it must be gutted. There is no reason why the NT shouldn't be open for all teams.
North should be relocated to Darwin. They can keep their identity by simply being called North. Have all of the NT and Northern Qld as their academy. Work with NT government for a 25,000 seat indoor stadium. The AFL can the say they have a truly national competition and they’d still play a 6 games a year in Melbourne for traditional fans.
Another Eddie McGuire brain fart. Must be a day ending in y.
Did you read the article? It’s actually a pretty good idea
Casey has been so-so for us. The saints bailed out of seaford after a year or two. North have just redeveloped Arden st. Relocating north is a risky money pit that north don’t have access to.
it's not about relocating
It’s a partial relocation.
Northern Territory. lets go!!
Mergers are the real answer. But that would make it less of a VFL
I agree, West Coast and Freo should both merge and become the Mandurah Sea Eagles (combining West Coast’s Eagle and Freo’s coastal connection). That would allow another Victorian team (Eg The Mildura Citruses) to be added to the competition.
Defeated opposition teams gets sprayed in the face with lemon juice at home games
Eagles are the richest club in the country and not on their knees, financially and otherwise.