Gold Coast Suns and Brisbane Lions in a state of disrepair

THE AFL will have tipped more than $100 million into Gold Coast by the time the footy financial year ends, and has pumped nearly as much into Brisbane during the same period.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MAY 14: Suns players look dejected after losing the round eight AFL match between the Greater Western Sydney Giants and the Gold Coast Suns at Spotless Stadium on May 14, 2016 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

THE AFL will have tipped more than $100 million into the Gold Coast Suns by the time the footy financial year ends on October 31.

In the same period — since the Suns first played VFL in 2010 — the league will have pumped more than $80m into the ailing Brisbane Lions for good measure.

That is a significant investment, made to look questionable by the poor performance of both teams on the field.

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That $80m for the Lions has not been enough to keep the club’s head above water. It is mired in $13m of debt, most of that generated in the same period.

The state of Queensland football was put on the agenda by Leigh Matthews last week — when he suggested the state could not support two teams.

He has since expanded his remarks to say the teams could not survive without the continued significant backing of the AFL.

And there has been no suggestion from the league that it intends to lessen or withdraw support of the Queensland teams.

On the eve of the season, outgoing Suns president John Witheriff outlined the AFL’s main reason for the investment.

Mitch Robinson reaction says it all after Brisbane’s loss to Collingwood on Saturday night. Picture: Getty Images

It’s pretty simple: The AFL wants footy to be the dominant winter sport in Australia in 20, 50, 100 years’ time.

It believes that goal can’t be achieved without a strong footprint in southeast Queensland.

In the meantime, the existence of the Suns and fellow expansion side Greater Western Sydney has added a ninth game each week to be sold.

That has contributed to an increase in the worth of broadcast rights from $750m for a 16-team competition from 2007-11 to $1.25 billion for the following five years and the whopping $2.5 billion for six years from next year.

The Suns argue this, along with strong growth in participation in the state, is a fair down-payment on the AFL’s investment.

Suns chief executive Andrew Travis told the Herald Sun this year: “What the Suns’ emergence has done has reinvigorated the interest in AFL in Queensland.

“When you put all of those things (TV rights, participation and infrastructure) together — the investment of a team by the AFL on the Gold Coast is stacking up significantly.”

All that may be cold comfort to the coaches at the helm of the two sides, however.

The “noise”, as AFL boss Gillon McLachlan might call it, about the cost of footy in Queensland grows loudest when the teams are travelling poorly.

Lions coach Justin Leppitsch and Suns counterpart Rodney Eade know only too well that it is the suits at Docklands who are pulling the strings at their clubs.

Originally published as Gold Coast Suns and Brisbane Lions in a state of disrepair