Knights still cautious of a league jump

THE Gold Coast Knights will explore the possibility of entry into The Championship with a sense of trepidation about the financial viability of a national second-tier competition.

Three days after NPL neighbours Gold Coast United reaffirmed their desire to join the A-League’s mooted second division – to be known as The Championship – the Bulletin can reveal the Knights have held high-level discussions with the Australian Association of Football Clubs regarding their own bid for entry.

The competition is the brainchild of the AAFC as part of a plan for the A-League to be run independently of Football

Federation Australia, with as many as 16 teams to feature in The Championship’s likely inaugural season in 2021-22.

However, Knights president Adrian Puljich said while the club was “excited by the opportunity”, further details for the competition are needed. “The biggest thing about the B-League, regardless of whether it’s our bid or the Gold Coast (United) bid, is understanding the commercial aspects of that bid,” Puljich said.

“Australia is a vast continent, it requires significant travel and you just have to look at the NPL teams from northern Queensland and how they have struggled to remain viable. That’s something the Knights are acutely aware of.

“Every second week you’re bound to be in Melbourne or Adelaide or Perth or Cairns, so that’s taking a staff of 30-plus on a plane and it’s not something that’s really been done in other codes. Some clubs down south will do it but the Queensland clubs really have to have a good look at themselves and make that decision whether it’s viable.”

Puljich has been the driving force behind the Knights’ transformation from a Coast League One outfit in 2016 to an NPL powerhouse today.

The Knights fight for a spot in the FFA Cup’s Round of 32 for the second straight year when they host Brisbane Strikers at 7.30pm tonight.