Gold Coast Suns and Southport Sharks answer questions after VFL and NEAFL merge

Can Southport afford to join the merged VFL and NEAFL league? What if they can’t? Will the Suns field a standalone team, align with Sharks or multiple clubs? Both clubs answer all those questions here.

UNCERTAINTY surrounds Southport’s financial capacity to join an amalgamated NEAFL and VFL competition while the Suns will wait on confirmation of AFL list sizes before deciding how they transition into the league.

Like many businesses the Southport Sharks have been hampered by COVID-19, only reopening in July.

It has left club bosses weighing up whether or not it can inject the money required to make their senior team a viable option for the new league in 2021.

“It’s too early to say (if Southport can afford it),” Southport CEO Dean Bowtell said.

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“We are trying to get an understanding of what the future holds. I’m forecasting in the next week or two we will probably meet with the AFL to discuss what our options are.

“We will wait for that meeting to occur and then we will determine if we consider going into the VFL or look at a lower level which would be the QAFL.

“At the moment it’s up in the air where we sit with it.

“Funding is going to be the most critical factor and how much assistance will be provided if we were to participate at the AFL.

NEAFL practice game between Southport Sharks and Redland at Fankhauser Reserve..(Photo Steve Holland)

“The club has always aspired to play at the highest level it can but obviously the commercial factor is there to participating in any league, particularly with the situation with COVID.

“We need to ensure the numbers stack up before we consider going into something like the VFL competition.”

Clubs in the NEAFL were given funding to help subsidise the cost of travelling and accommodation while it was up to clubs to provide the money towards their player salaries.

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AFL clubs in Queensland and NSW, including Gold Coast, will have the chance to field a stand-alone team in the league, align with an existing second-tier club or spread their listed players across multiple second-tier clubs.

Having an alignment to one club costs more than spreading players across multiple clubs but the latter also means the clubs have less say on how players are used and it can provide problems should players be called up to be emergencies for the senior team.

Round 13 of the 2020 AFL Season is held in Darwin. Gold Coast Suns v Carlton Blues. All the colour and action from TIO Stadium, NT. Picture: Che Chorley

Suns football manager Jon Haines said the club would wait to find out how many players they will have on the list before deciding their best path forward.

The AFL are likely to cut list sizes on the back of COVID, with many clubs potentially going down to around 38 in 2021 before further reductions are put in place.

Gold Coast will push to keep some of the extra list spots provided to them by the AFL, giving them scope to field a stand-alone team should they wish.

The Suns have the finances to field a stand-alone team but would be open to aligning with the Sharks should their list size reduce further beyond 2021.

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