AFL boss McLachlan deserves credit for saying he will address state footy woes but time will tell

AFL boss Gillon McLachlan has started the process of fixing footy in Tasmania. But the proof will be in following through on the promises.

OK, so credit where it’s due: AFL boss Gillon McLachlan dragged himself out of bed and took the early flight to Hobart yesterday for a morning of meetings where he started the process of fixing footy in Tasmania.

And by the end of it all, it was clear he has heard our cries — and he appears earnest enough in his commitment to the future of the code here.

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It was six weeks ago that the same Mr McLachlan, when asked about the parlous state of the game in Tassie, responded that you could look at it “through different lenses” and that things were worse two years ago. That’s despite the only two teams in the North-West having pulled out of the Tasmanian State League in recent months and just one draft pick coming from the state last year — raising serious question marks about the talent pathway.

All Tasmanians should be pleased that Mr McLachlan has since studied up, and now acknowledges the very real challenges.

Yesterday, he promised to personally sit on the steering committee looking at the state of footy here — and set a deadline of a plan for June 30. That’s good news, because this can’t be allowed to drag on. He also revealed the next meeting of that committee would be in Tasmania on April 14 — and that he would be back. Again, that’s good news. The last time Mr McLachlan visited our shores was in June 2016.

The Mercury on Tuesday laid out the four items that Mr McLachlan needed to tick off on his visit.

The first was to acknowledge he got it wrong when initially attempting to swat away the issue, and to admit the AFL has let things slip in Tassie. He essentially did this yesterday by the scale of the plan that was unveiled.

Secondly, we said he must demonstrate what the AFL’s plans were to fix the talent pathway for Tasmanian kids dreaming of a career in the AFL. Mr McLachlan earned a tick on this as well.

Third, we demanded Mr McLachlan pledge to fix the Tasmanian State League — the competition that is supposed to be our island’s elite showcase. Again, his promise to review the TSL — and his candidness in talking about the various options — means, again, he essentially did this.

Finally, Mr McLachlan needed to lay out yesterday what the path is towards Tasmania’s ultimate goal of having our own team in the AFL. On this he stumbled, saying that while he would “love Tasmania to have an AFL team” he was “really real about the chances of having one”. Well that’s fine, but he should at least tell us what we need to do.

Overall, however, Mr McLachlan’s visit yesterday was a solid first step. He has gone from pretending there isn’t a problem to personally committing to address it. We have come a long way in six weeks, and the Mercury’sSave Our Footy campaign has been at the forefront of driving that change.

As Tasmanians, however, we have heard all this before — and on numerous occasions. The Mercury, then, is happy to take Mr McLachlan at his word for now but we promise if nothing changes we will keep up the fight.