Cook demands eight home games
Geelong CEO, Brian Cook, believes Geelong deserves to play eight home games at Simonds Stadium
Geelong chief executive, Brian Cook, demands the AFL to give the Cats and their fans the chance to experience at least eight games at Geelong’s home ground.
Over the past six years Geelong has only hosted seven games at Geelong’s newly renovated Simonds Stadium.
Cook is worried Geelong’s request is again on the track of being ignored by the AFL, as they have made no attempt to change the fixture despite saying they would.
“I know the AFL have been thinking that way, which is really disappointing because they’ve given us assurances (previously) that they will use their best endeavours to (give us eight),” Cook told News Limited
“I understand (the AFL) have a whole lot of commitments to meet around Australia, but we’ve been a big part of this competition and a big contributor to this competition over the last generation.
“We’ve been one of the top-three watched clubs since 2007. We’ve done our bit for television.
“What I’d like to see is the AFL give us the eight games which will ensure our financial position is shored up a lot better than what it is at the moment.”
Geelong’s season opener against Adelaide housed a disappointing crowd due to it's inconvenient time slot on a Thursday night.
Cook says weekly-night-games in Geelong has a negative impact on the Cats fans who are unable to attend due to weekly commitments, which in turn affects the club and the city financially.
Last Sunday against Richmond at the MCG, Geelong was again confronted with another poor crowed of 34,377 because of its late scheduling on a weeknight.
The Cats next home game at Simonds Stadium is a Friday night against North Melbourne and Cook is already concerned about numbers.
“For our crowds to be maximised, we need fixtures to be suitable,” Cook said.
“Thursday night fixtures in Geelong will not work. It might be good for TV, but for the Geelong footy club and its members and its balance sheet, it’s not good.
“I’m also a little bit concerned about Friday night (against North Melbourne) — it’s going to be interesting to see whether we fill up the stadium.
“There’s no doubt Geelong-based people will embrace it, but getting over that West Gate Bridge on a Friday night worries me for the many people who will be coming from Melbourne.”
According to Cook, Geelong’s players and fans have an unfair disadvantage compared to the other top-sides in the competition.
“There’s got to be a reasonableness to it, about what that means to our finances and our win-loss chances,” Cook said.
“I think we’ve achieved unbelievably well as a football team given what’s happened most years (with fixturing). Imagine if the other top-four sides — Fremantle, Hawthorn, Port Adelaide — played 15 matches on opposition home grounds?
“It’s easy to sit back and say, ‘we can’t possibly play Collingwood down there, you can’t play Hawthorn,’ or whatever the case is, but that’s a cop out, there’s other teams who can play there.
“I understand the principle of that, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t get eight games in total.”