TRIPPED UP: SUNS FOUNDER SAYS CHINA VISITS MAY HAMPER CLUB’S SUCCESS
GOLD Coast are no certainties to get a return invite to China but Suns founder Graeme Downie says staying at home in 2018 may be the best thing the club could do.
Fellow expansion club Greater Wester Sydney have already been linked to the second of what Port Adelaide hope will be five-year stint playing AFL games in Shanghai following last weekend’s game.
Downie, who helped the Suns secure an AFL licence and spent five years at the club, was on the Brisbane board when the Lions played in South Africa and New Zealand during pre-season games.
Downie saw little benefit from either and said little would be gained for the Suns going back to the place where they were smashed by 72 points by the Power.
Downie said the $500,000 that came with selling the game may be attractive but it came at the risk of alienating members and fans and above all, hindering the chances of success for a club that has been starved of it.
“Maybe I’m missing the point but I don’t know if there is a lot to be gained from it,” Downie said.
“You have to be careful doing it because you will alienate your own members if you keep taking your home games away.
“I’d be weighing up the financial benefits as opposed to taking a home game away from your local members when you’re still trying to build up the support base here.
“I’m sure the result wouldn’t have been as bad playing at Metricon (Stadium).
”In a football sense – and in a fan sense to an extent too – staying home makes more sense. In the long term we want people on the Gold Coast to become strong supporters and there are not going to be more supporters unless the team becomes more competitive and having all of their home games provides the best opportunities to win.”
Gold Coast will likely need somewhere outside of Metricon to play during the China fixture next year anyway with the stadium unavailable to the club for around the first 10 weeks of the 2018 season due to the Commonwealth Games.
The Suns have already flagged playing at the Gabba, hoping to only lose three home games during that period.
Brisbane played in stadiums used for Test cricket during their overseas games in Cape Town and Wellington and Downie said Shanghai’s Jiangwan Sports Centre did not compare.
Downie said while the surface may have been to a high standard, the open-air remodelled stadium that had large areas vacant outside of the sellout of 10,964 crowd left something to be desired.
“It might have been a great surface but there were empty stands and little atmosphere,” he said.