It's generally a good time of year to be taking a holiday on the Surf Coast if you're a Melbourne Victory supporter. A day at the beach, and a balmy evening at Simonds Stadium. Monday night will be the fifth time Geelong will have hosted a Victory match, and the expectations are of a 15,000-plus crowd. Everyone wins. Or do they?

Taking games to the regions – on both sides of the Tasman – has long been a feature of the A-League's existence. Sometimes it's about spreading the message, sometimes clubs are forced out of their homes by other events. Either way, taking the league to the regions has been a worthy exercise on one proviso. It's done with honest intent.

Geelong game: Leigh Broxham of Melbourne Victory heads the ball during a match against Central Coast Mariners at Simonds Stadium in 2016. Credit:Robert Prezioso

My feeling is that after eight years of empty rhetoric about using these games to test the merits of expansion, the novelty is beginning to wear off. Kevin Muscat hasn't twigged, rolling out the same old, tired, party line ahead of the game against the Jets: "It gives Geelong an opportunity to come out and support us, and show the decision-makers in relation to expansion that they're worthy of a spot." No it doesn't Kev. It won't make a whit of difference how many people show up.

And there's the rub. For Geelong, think Wollongong, or Canberra, or Launceston, or Townsville, or Cairns, or Auckland, or Christchurch. Maybe a few years ago, the football communities in these cities might have believed hosting an A-League match was a dress rehearsal for the real thing. Getting a team of their own.