Tasmania’s bid to have an AFL club is about to ramp up with the state’s premier Peter Gutwein determined for league presidents to understand how compelling the case is for a 19th license.
A decision on a potential new AFL team will be made next year, with the 18 clubs to vote on Tasmania’s business model.
An independent report, from former Geelong president Colin Carter, released earlier this year into the merits of a club in Tasmania declared the state deserves its own team.
Gutwein said the Tasmanian government was doing everything it could to be ready for the crucial vote in 2022.
“In coming weeks we’ll start to work with the AFL to ensure the presidents understand fully the strength of our business case and the desire that we have,” Gutwein said.
His comments on Thursday comes as Hawthorn and North Melbourne have inked new one-year deals to play home games in Tasmania.
The Hawks will host four matches in Launceston next season, after first playing games in the Apple Isle in 2001.
The Kangaroos will also head to Hobart for four games.
The Tasmanian government had threatened to take away the lucrative contracts from Hawthorn and North if the AFL kept stalling on making a call about a permanent club in the state.
Hawthorn and North have traditionally had longer contracts for their matches in Launceston, with the one-year deal potentially pointing to an end of their affiliation with the Tasmanian government from 2023.
“It’s important that we have AFL content in the state ongoing,” Gutwein said
“As I said earlier this year, there is real interest from other clubs though in terms of Tasmania.
“But I would hope the arrangements we have in place with Hawthorn and North Melbourne post this one-year deal would be able to continue as a transitional deal until we are able to get our own team.”
Hawks president Jeff Kennett declared the club’s extension of the deal to play games at UTAS Stadium as “great news”.
“We are immensely proud of our long-standing association with Tasmania,” Kennett said.
“The relationship between Tasmania and Hawthorn has spanned more than two decades and over that time the partnership has come to mean a lot to us.”
AAP
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