Tasmania AFL team: Footy identity Dwayne Russell reporting Tasmania to enter the AFL by 2023

A well-credentialed radio host and football identity says Tasmania is in line to enter the AFL in time for the 2023 season.

Could we see a Tasmanian team in the AFL by 2023? Dwayne Russell certainly thinks so. Picture: MATT THOMPSON

MELBOURNE radio host and Fox Footy commentator Dwayne Russell has declared Tasmania is in line to land a 19th license in time for the 2023 season.

Speaking on Sportsday on 3AW in Melbourne, Russell said the plan would see both North Melbourne and Hawthorn leave at the end of their current contracts, 2021, with a Tasmanian team to enter the competition soon after.

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“I’m hearing no Hawthorn and no North Melbourne in Tassie after 2021,” Russell said on Sportsday.

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Dwayne Russell

“I’m hearing no games at all in Tassie in 2022 with the idea that Tassie would get its 19th team into the AFL in 2023.

“It’s a pencilled plan, it’s a plan being investigated but it’s nothing new, we’ve been talking about a Tassie team for a while.

“I’m told the AFL’s long-term plan is that the Suns survive.

“They’re going to be the Suns on the Gold Coast, that’s it, forget about it.”

The Tasmanian Government has formed an AFL Taskforce of high-profiled operators tasked with building a business case to enter the league.

The Taskforce hopes to finish its report in December.