Eddie McGuire backs a Territory bid to be the 20th AFL side

Former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire has come out to support the bid for the NT to have its own AFL side. Should the NT have a team? Vote in our poll.

THE Northern Territory’s ambitious bid to join the AFL earned a boost from one of the game’s biggest powerbrokers.

Former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire spoke directly to AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan to not only support Tasmania’s enduring proposal but to add another team from Northern Australia.

“I would like the AFL to go away and consider this: they need to come up with a proposal that takes into account not only Tasmania, but Far North Queensland and Darwin because 19 teams doesn’t work – it’s 20 teams or 18,” Mr McGuire said on Footy Classified this week.

“But with 20 teams, have a full national competition so that AFL football owns Australia.”

Football icon Eddie McGuire said establishing an NT team would be a “bigger play for equalisation”. Picture: Michael Dodge/Getty Images

Mr McGuire also had conversations with Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein after his public frustrations over a lack of outcome from the Carter Report that was intended to clear up ambiguity on whether Tasmania should be handed an AFL licence after 30 years of waiting. That should open up one final spot, according to Mr McGuire, to best capitalise on the change of the sporting landscape ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.

“I want a whole, new competition plan for what AFL football looks like in 2030 and the commission and the AFL need to get onto it,” McGuire said.

McGuire said such a proposal could improve stadium rights through political lobbying. The AFL NT has floated plans for a 25,000-seat undercover stadium that would help secure an AFL team. But Mr McGuire said there was a grander vision at play.

“Far North Queensland and Darwin to me is a bigger play for equalisation, the anti-racism play we want to get into to develop the indigenous players up there, and together in concert with Tasmania is where we should be looking at a bigger overall picture,” he said.

MORE RELATED NEWS

Could a new stadium help the NT win a slice of Olympic glory?

AFLNT boss dreams big for potential Territory team

New region enters AFL expansion race

The Darwin move would only go ahead should Tasmania be given their own team and not a relocated Victorian side or a joint venture with an existing club, the Tasmanian government says.

Mr Gutwein has threatened to expel all future Hawthorn or North Melbourne matches in the state unless a final decision on its own AFL team is delivered before next year.

“If the AFL doesn’t meet that timeline and we can’t get a decision by the end of the year, we will not accept any more excuses and if that means AFL content is not in Tasmania next year then be it on the AFL’s head,” he said.