{"id":393471,"date":"2024-05-13T10:45:57","date_gmt":"2024-05-13T10:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=393471"},"modified":"2024-05-13T22:05:45","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T22:05:45","slug":"how-the-suns-could-claim-darwin-before-the-afl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=393471","title":{"rendered":"How the Suns could claim Darwin before the AFL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eddie McGuire<\/a> says while the AFL<\/a> weighs up whether they introduce Darwin as the 20th team, the Gold Coast Suns<\/a> should make the Northern Territory their home. <\/p>\n

As the league gears up to welcome the Tasmania Devils<\/a> as the 19th club in 2028, McGuire believes it's the perfect time for the Suns to build a new fan base up north, before a likely 20th side is brought in.<\/p>\n

"Gold Coast should go into the Darwin area," he said on Nine's Eddie and Jimmy<\/em> podcast.<\/p>\n

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McGuire believes that it will not only increase the Suns' prowess in the league, but will also \ufeffhelp build excitement for the introduction of Darwin's own team in the future.<\/p>\n

"Give those teams an identity up there and give the kids up there a regular team to barrack for. That would be the first way to go," he said.<\/p>\n

\"Will<\/p>\n

The former Collingwood president is also urging struggling Victorian teams to take up the opportunity to play up north to grow their fans bases.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"Get North [Melbourne] to play an away game up there, other teams, St Kilda … play a couple of games up there against the Gold Coast," McGuire said.<\/p>\n

The Suns have won their last five matches up in Darwin, most recently overcoming North Melbourne by 68 points in round nine.<\/p>\n

\"Will<\/p>\n

But Jimmy Bartel fears\ufeff that building a home in Darwin could work in the Suns favour, meaning that other AFL sides will want a piece of the Northern Territory, or call it a bias.<\/p>\n

"We all agree with the sentiment. Some great players come from up in the NT," he said.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"The only issue with your proposal of keeping a club in that state or area is, it will be okay until they win (the premiership) and everyone sooks.<\/p>\n

"You're allowed to do things, but you're not allowed to do them well. You imagine if Gold Coast peeled off a 16-win season, (people would say) 'oh they only get home games'."<\/p>\n

The Suns are sitting in 10th, with a 5-4 record.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eddie McGuire says while the AFL weighs up whether they introduce Darwin as the 20th team, the Gold Coast Suns should make the Northern Territory […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":393475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393471"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=393471"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":393482,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393471\/revisions\/393482"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/393475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=393471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=393471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=393471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}