‘Brutal reality’ of Tasmania’s $1 billion AFL saga as state cast aside
The future of the Tassie Devils is on a knife’s edge as the island state faces the prospect of losing its premier, AFL team, and stadium.
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The blowtorch has turned on the AFL over its handling of the Tasmanian stadium saga, with fears the expansion team’s entry into the league may be delayed or cancelled for good.
The future of the AFL’s 19th team is in serious doubt after a no-confidence motion against Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff was passed amid debate over the new stadium proposed to be built in Hobart.
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Thursday’s no-confidence motion means Tasmanians are set to return to the polls, with an election date yet to be determined.
The move comes after ongoing allegations the Rockliff Government has mismanaged the Apple Isle’s budget and bungled key infrastructure projects, including the proposed Macquarie Point Stadium — the venue the Devils hope to call home when they enter the AFL in 2028.
Rockliff has been one of the emerging football club’s strongest supporters — even in a climate where there has been widespread anger towards the planned $1 billion stadium.
Tasmania’s parliament was due to vote within the next six weeks on special legislation designed to grant planning approval, but an election could derail the stadium plans.
Debate has erupted this week over whether the new stadium needs a roof or whether Hobart needs a new stadium on top of the existing Bellerive Oval.
Others have highlighted the fact AFL games have been held this year in Darwin, Ballarat and Alice Springs at venues that don’t exactly boast the modern day infrastructure the Tasmanian franchise is being asked to deliver.
Premiership winning Collingwood defender Jeremy Howe, a proud Tasmanian, has warned that pulling the rug out from the Tasmanians and cruelling hopes of an AFL team would permanently scar the state.
“It will rip the heart out of the state if it doesn’t go forward,” Howe told Triple M’s Rush Hour with JB & Billy on Thursday.
“The carrot has been there dangling for decades, and then all of a sudden, it’s within reaching distance and everyone’s become attached to it.
“Everyone’s talking about it, there’s a genuine excitement about it. If it doesn’t get done, I fear for what the state might look like.”
‘Tasmania needs the AFL more than the AFL needs Tasmania’
It has long been expected Tasmania and then a Northern Territory team will complete the AFL as a 20-team competition, but the league’s expansion is in serious doubt now.
The stadium saga has exposed an uncomfortable truth for Tassie fans — the Devils have been given a much higher bar for entry into the AFL than the GWS Giants and the Gold Coast Suns, who joined the league in the early 2010s.
Seven’s AFL reporter Mitch Cleary wrote on X: “The brutal reality is that the AFL was desperate to introduce the Giants and Suns to grow the game into NSW/QLD so they were always going to have a lower bar for entry.
“Tasmania needs the AFL more than the AFL needs Tasmania. So the deal was always going to be tougher to secure.”
For what it’s worth, this season GWS has an average home crowd of 11,715, while the average attendance for Gold Coast Suns home games is 13,625 — with MCG and SCG matches bolstering the league’s attendance figures.
Aussie Rules has a rich history in Tasmania, with countless legendary players including Jack Riewoldt and Matthew Richardson growing up in the island state before getting drafted to the AFL.
Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan spent his entire playing career in Tasmania before going on to become the first AFL premiership winning coach who hasn’t played V/AFL football.
Launceston’s UTAS Stadium hosted two elimination finals during the Covid-affected 2021 season.
The political uncertainty in Tasmania means the Devils’ future is in doubt and the timeline of the team’s entry into the AFL
The new 23,000-seat stadium, was supposed to be built in time for the 2029 AFL season, with the hope it would host cricket matches and other entertainment events.
“The stadium, everything, has been thrown into chaos,” Cleary said on Seven.
Nick Riewoldt added: ““90 percent of the (Tasmanian) people I speak to or hear from, want the stadium. I think Tasmanian’s are united in their desire for a stadium and a team.
“This (the no-confidence motion) is a really risky move. Either we come through with a clear mandate, which will push it through, or the whole thing blows up. It’s on a knife’s edge.”
“Incredibly frustrating, I hope Dean Winter has got a plan.”
Labor opposition leader Dean Winter said he supported the AFL team and the stadium, but the state had other priorities as well.
“We support the Tasmanian Devils and the AFL team that Tasmanians have dreamed of forever,” Winter said.
“But I’ve got to say that I’ve got a lot of very high priorities around health and education.
“Yes, we absolutely support getting this team, but Tasmanians, when I talk to them, they talk about cost of living, they talk about education, they talk about the future for our young people.
“I’m not prepared to stand idly by and let this Liberal government led by Jeremy Rockliff ruin this state.”
Liberal senator Jonathon Duniam has told ABC News he is “angry” with no-confidence vote in Rockliff and the decision to head back to the polls.
“Thirty-five members of the Tasmanian government in their collective wisdom to not find a way to not send Tasmanians back to an election just baffles me,” he said on Friday morning.
‘No stadium, no team’
Devils CEO Brendon Gale has said the ‘no stadium, no team’ condition for Tasmania’s AFL entry remains crucial, stressing Hobart and Launceston’s major venues are still “not fit” to “underpin a team in the big league on a sustainable basis”.
When asked on Fox Footy’s AFL 360 if the ‘no team, no stadium’ policy to introduce Tassie was “too ambitious” and that “too many stumbling blocks” had been placed in front of the key stakeholders.
Gale said: “No, I just think it’s been a difficult concept to explain (why we can’t play at existing venues).
“Firstly, there’s no good time to build a stadium around the world. They’re always big and they’re expensive, and there’s always a whole range of other priorities … Whether it’s Adelaide or Perth Stadium, they’re difficult to get through and get popular support.
“I guess that’s compounded by the fact that people in Tasmania think: ‘Well, we’ve got two perfectly good stadiums in Hobart and Launceston, why can’t we just have those?’ And they’re reasonable stadiums and they’ve been fit for purpose. But they’re not fit for the purpose of providing sustainable commercial business model to underpin a team in the big league on a sustainable basis.”
Originally published as ‘Brutal reality’ of Tasmania’s $1 billion AFL saga as state cast aside
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