Instead of having all those different threads, Keep everything in this thread.

Any news stories/any thoughts about the team, or anything related to Gold Coast FC can go here.

Shoot!

Lol...

Just a question for the Queensland residents on this site, are any of you considering abandoning your current teams and hopping on the GC wagon?

nah feldy lions will still be my team but ill have a new 2nd team

with the TAC Cup (i think) team that they were showing off at the announcement...does anyone kno where i can get a team list coz i think i saw a guy i went to school with on FSN today haha

Anybody ? News ? Pics ?

SPIRITED YOUNG GCFC GO DOWN FIGHTING

04.04.09

IT was the day the Gold Coast Football Club had been waiting for as the club played its first match in the Under-18 TAC Cup competition at Carrara on Saturday night.

But the result was not so memorable as the Coast suffered a 38-point loss to the Eastern Ranges in what was a wet and muddy affair.

Despite some flashes of brilliance from the boys, they were outclassed and went down 16-6 (102) to 9-10 (64).

Skipper Marc Lock kicked the club's first goal but it was all the Ranges after that as the boys from Victoria jumped away to a 29-point quarter-time lead.

They were never headed after that and the torrential rain that hit Carrara in the second half certainly helped the Ranges' cause.

Lock was the Coast's best with three goals, while ruckman Zac Smith and Jack Stanlake (two goals) also impressed.

Lock Sounds good.

Got a link?

League defends GC draft concessions

GOLD Coast's draft concessions may be significant, but they are no guarantor of overnight success, according to AFL chief operating officer Gillon McLachlan.

The club, which was last month granted a provisional licence to become the AFL's 17th team in 2011, believes its 'premiership window' will open as early as 2014, but McLachlan says that will depend on a number of factors.

"We know they're going to be accessing the most talented kids in the land over the next couple of years, but ultimately it's going to be how well they draft – whether they make the right selections – and how well they're coached," he told afl.com.au.

The Gold Coast will have picks 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13 in the 2010 NAB AFL Draft as well as being able to pick a dozen 17-year-olds from this season who are not eligible for the 2009 draft.

McLachlan defended the decision to give such large concessions to the new team.

"I don't think there's any point putting a franchise in a new market where they're not given the opportunity to be successful," he said.

"I think the draft gives everyone the opportunity to be successful – I think every team in the competition's played in a prelim final since 2000.

"So everyone's supposed to have an opportunity – access to talent doesn't mean you're going to be successful.

"You have to pick the right kids and you have to coach them in a way that brings success.

“It would be silly for us not to give them the opportunity to be successful, but they've got to get a lot of things right."

The club has been granted a provisional licence, and the move to a full licence is dependent on the resolution of several issues at various government levels.

"Essentially it just means now that we have to have binding contracts for the funding to complete and develop the stadium," he said.

"We signed a binding contract with the [Queensland] state government, we need the [Gold Coast] council to reach agreement with the state on a couple of issues, and we're awaiting a decision from the Federal Government around a $40m piece of funding that's been flagged from them."

McLachlan said he was optimistic that the Gold Coast City Council and the Queensland government would resolve the issue of the transfer of land for the stadium would be resolved shortly.

After Gold Coast's entry into the competition, focus will shift to the 18th team planned for western Sydney, and McLachlan said the League knew how tough the introduction of a team in that market would be.

"I don't think we've ever underestimated the challenge there for us," he said.

"There are some upsides to our ability to have a team in western Sydney that didn't exist on the Gold Coast – we've got a training and admin facility that we could be using in Blacktown; there's a potential stadium out at Homebush.

"We've been building a base and growing our participation levels out in that market for a long time; we've been playing games out at ANZ Stadium for some time, so we've been building the base.

"Ultimately we're going to have to take a risk at some point and expose ourselves to a heavy load of investment and actually put a team in there, and that's going to be the huge challenge, to get the 20-odd thousand members you need and get that level of support."

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/75000/default.aspx

Wow!

Look at all the high draft picks they get. I think they will be a force about 3-4 years after they enter the AFL

haha Jack Stanley and Nicky Price went to my school - was in the same yr as stanley but price was the year below me

GC beat the Jets by 130 odd points

Gold Coast aims for young midfield talent

Jay Clark | April 26, 2009 12:00am

TALENTED Western Bulldogs midfielder Shaun Higgins faces a million-dollar decision about whether to become the public face and future captain of the new Gold Coast football club.

The 21-year-old rising star is out of contract at Whitten Oval this season and has become a priority target for the Gold Coast following disinterest from Geelong onball genius Gary Ablett and Hawthorn superstar Lance Franklin.

Higgins already is in talks with the Dogs about a long-term deal, but by extending his contract by only one season he would certainly ensure an astronomical offer to join the 17th AFL franchise late next year.

The skilled midfielder is among the first few AFL players to have to seriously consider the option of moving north, although it is believed Higgins, a former Geelong Falcon junior, will put his club before cash.

In Queensland, he could earn up to $800,000 a season as a vice-captain or, potentially, as the captain, or roughly half that chasing a premiership with the tight-knit Western Bulldogs.

Complicating Higgins' decision is the future of his out-of-contract coach, Rodney Eade.

In two years Higgins will be 23 and primed to become one of the competition's midfield stars.

Western Bulldogs' football manager James Fantasia said all clubs were approaching a difficult phase trying to keep their players, but he was confident Higgins would remain a big part of the promising future at Whitten Oval.

Gold Coast has an extra $1 million in its salary cap with which to lure the AFL's premier players and can poach a maximum of one player from each club next October.

Coast chiefs believe its luxurious draft concessions, including nine first-round picks in next year's National Draft will allow it to challenge for a premiership within its first four years.

Higgins, whose first four games this season have underlined his standing as one of the AFL's best young midfield/forward talents, is already a respected member of the Dogs' leadership group and is being groomed to one day skipper the club.

Gold Coast recruiting manager, Scott Clayton, who crossed from the Dogs last year, has a strong connection with Higgins, having first drafted him with a steal, pick 11 of the 2005 National Draft.

Higgins' maturity, leadership, kicking efficiency and goalscoring capabilities are attributes' high on Clayton's wish list, with the new club chasing a classy playmaker of his calibre to build a midfield around.

St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt is still high on the Coast's agenda, although the club's focus has intensified on the current middle-tier players and youngsters, like Higgins, with significant upside.

Other known early Gold Coast priorities include Queenslanders' Dayne Beams, from Collingwood, St Kilda pair Sam Gilbert and David Armitage, Adelaide key forward Kurt Tippett and Fremantle onballer Rhys Palmer.
-----

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25385307-19742,00.html

Holy Shit, Higgins to be Captain of GC17... He will be the next Daniel Kerr if he goes to GC, as it said, he is the perfect age.

Beams will go.
Gilbert and Armitage maybe
Tippett will go now Adelaide have Walker
Palmer...hmm

They'll definitely make a play for some of the big names of the competition that's for sure

They've built a great squad, as carlton said they'll be a force to be reckoned with soon.

I actually didnt know until March that this had advanced so much. Not long until we see a Western Sydney team then (I hope)