Demetriou's interview in the Daily Telegraph

[Xie Shan]

Was mainly talking up the game in Sydney and re-assuring NRL fans that the AFL is done poaching rugby league players, but I thought his comments about the Swans were worth posting here, because I think it's long overdue recognition of the Swans' contribution to the game in Sydney. You always hear the Melbourne media bleating about the concessions handed to Sydney and Brisbane but very little about the struggle we faced to get to where we are as a club.

We can only be having a second team because of the Swans. They have had 30 years in this market. The trailblazing they have done, the hits they have taken, the pain they have endured, the setbacks and then the recovery to win a flag - they have set us up to be able to put a second team in. In a bizarre way, one of the reasons we're putting a second team in is to help the Swans. When they started there were only 12 or 13 major sporting teams in Sydney. Now they're competing for space with the Super 15 and the A-League. They have been carrying the promotional burden for such a long time. They have been fabulous but we needed another team to make sure we had more promotional assets in the market place. We needed content every weekend instead of every second week.

AFL is done pinching rugby league players: Demetriou

[ShockOfHair]

I guess he had to lay it on pretty thick, but I'm sure he means what he says about the Swans. From his perspective we're not a headache like, eg, Port or North.

He said exactly the right things about AFL in that interview, but I thought the most interesting comment was on Roos. "I've seen Paul on many occasions. I've always said he's been a great ambassador for our game." Isn't that damning him with faint and irrelevant praise?

[Xie Shan]

Oh, I absolutely agree, he was laying it on pretty thick throughout the interview, though he committed the cardinal sin of not knowing your audience when he said Nathan Hindmarsh played for Penrith

It was more that he acknowledged the setbacks we've faced and overcome, that spoke volumes to me.

I'm guessing Roos and Demetriou aren't on each other's Christmas cards lists, though :P

[Ruck'n'Roll]

The Fat Controllers platitudinal utterances fail to have any positive effect on me, no matter how loud his faint praise is I can't hear it above the cacophonous whirring of the AFL's spin!

In terms of sincerity, I'd rate Andy's utterances as having even less substance than Phil Rothfield saying I feel sorry for the Swans.

And if the AFL ever truly acknowledged the setbacks we've faced and overcome, then they'd have to start that acknowledgement by apologising for being the source of a large proportion of them!!! The ARL/NRL was never as great a hindrance to the Swans as the AFL/VFL

Leaving aside Andy's slick-as-snot rug-sweeping of his Swans style criticism of '05, I think the most extraordinary piece of spin was the way he was patting the AFL on the back for the creation of the academies!!! They were established in an attempt to make up for the years and years the AFL spent neglecting talent in NSW! Perhaps a decade's worth of football talent wasted?

[stellation]

Oh, I absolutely agree, he was laying it on pretty thick throughout the interview, though he committed the cardinal sin of not knowing your audience when he said Nathan Hindmarsh played for Penrith

I must admit that I found the "he speaks well" comment kind of endearing from a CEO, focus "what makes the boss' job easier?".

[jono2707]

Demetriou is talking rubbish by saying GWS was made possible by the Swans - and 'promotional assets'? What the hell are they? He can talk it up all he likes but the AFL is taking a huge risk here with a second side - I hope it comes off but they are also risking collateral damage to the Swans by doing this. And the NRL would have no reason to trust what he says anyway, either about poaching players or any other reassurances. And GWS will pinch some of our fans - lets be clear on that. Whilst I don't harbour any resentment to him for his '05 criticisms, which were blown out of proportion, I have little trust all of this sudden goodwill he's spouting towards Sydney now the AFL has plonked a great deal of their money out west...

[Hartijon]

I think the AFL is between a rock and a hard place with GWS. Not to have an AFL in such a huge pocket of population many of them open to new ideas in a new country is to fail to promote the code . They have to take this punt however it is fraught with difficulty due to League's entrenchment here. The recruitment of Falou was sheer marketing brilliance and got $millions of free advertising and the attention of league fans some of whom will secretly watch him play but not tell their mates! It may take 20 years though as he says for "Gay" FL to become AFL but ideally sophisticated sports (Westies?) lovers can follow both codes without them being mutually exclusive.