Why a Tassie Team Won't Work

Tasmanians have wanted an AFL team for as long back as I can remember but for me the time for a Tassie team would have been perfect in the 1980’s. Instead of moving South Melbourne to Sydney maybe they should have moved them to Hobart. I feel that in today that young people need more than a club to play for they need a mixture of culture and nightlife to want to stay in that city Hobart and Launceston are lacking the nightlife in a serious way.

 

If South Melbourne or Fitzroy relocated there in the 1980’s or The AFL created a Tasmania team in the 1990’s where the issues wasn’t as big in 2019 a Tassie team would be 25-35 years old now and it would be known as an already established club but trying to create a team you need to think about what would make a player want to stay in the state/town. I have been to both Hobart and Launceston and I must say their night life isn’t anything to right home about. There aren’t really many great cafes but it is the most beautiful state in Australia hands down and I can understand why people would want to retire there but having 40 plus 18-30 years old’s in one city with most being from Victoria. I just can’t see how they will manage to keep all their players.

 

Players now get “homesick” before they even get drafted one even got his mum to right a note to the AFL saying how her son cannot move interstate and every year you see a number of players who can’t handle living away from home and apart from Queensland who’s ladder positionings the last decade has shown not having a large number of home-grown talents really hurt you. In the 2018 National Draft three players got drafted from Tasmania Tarryn Thomas (Pick 8, North Melbourne), Chayce Jones (Pick 9, Adelaide) and Fraser Turner (Pick 58, Richmond). In 2017 only Hugh Dixon (Pick 44, Fremantle) got selected in the National Draft and that’s only because Brisbane matched their bid for Connor Bellenden so who knows if Dixon would of ended up getting selected. At least Brisbane and Gold Coast now have their academy for players from Queensland to end up on their list with no club in Tasmania so many players are left to play in the TSL.

 

As a football lover and a lover of the state of Tasmania I would of loved to see a Tassie team unfortanly for the way the world is moving and the wants for young people grow high Tassie as well as Northern Territory and ACT are sadly falling behind.