Kangaroos urged to make Tassie home, and the AFL is open to it

“EVERYTHING is a possibility” is the AFL’s provocative response to a bold plan to relocate North Melbourne to Tasmania.

The Kangaroos have been urged to make Tasmania their home in a proposal that has been described as a win-win for the team. Picture: AAP

“EVERYTHING is a possibility” is the AFL’s provocative response to a bold plan to relocate North Melbourne to Tasmania.

Craig Hutchison, host of Channel 9 show Footy Classified, has proposed a relocation strategy he says is a win-win for the state and the Kangaroos.

It would involve nine games being played in Tasmania and nine in Melbourne.

Hutchison’s proposal is very similar to a report for the AFL by Tasmanian Professor Jonathan West in 2014 that called for one team playing seven home games between the North and South.

It was presented to AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan, who endorsed the recommendations.

AFL footy boss Simon Lethlean, second only to McLachlan, was asked about the radical proposal on Melbourne radio. He said while the AFL could not make clubs relocate, “everything is a possibility”.

Hutchison’s plan would see North Melbourne have a permanent training base in Hobart, be called “The Kangaroos” and play two home games and seven away games in Melbourne each year to keep their roots with their traditional home base.

“Everything is a possibility,” Lethlean said on SEN radio of the proposal.

“Our preferred model probably is one team in Tassie, but we’ve also been pretty clear too that there are two clubs there at the moment with five-year deals to play matches and that’s not changing any time soon.

“It’s one for three, four, five years time to discuss and see where clubs are situated.”

Craig Hutchison. Picture: Supplied

Simon Lethlean. Picture: AFL Media

North Melbourne declined to comment when contacted by the Mercury.

But former Roos chairman James Brayshaw, who brokered the original deal to bring three home games to Hobart, lambasted both Hutchison and the AFL.

“Hutchy’s never had an original thought in his life,” Brayshaw said on Triple M Melbourne.

“That has come straight from the AFL — and what I would like to say to the AFL is this: if you want to genuinely do something about Tassie, stop Hawthorn going behind your back and signing a deal with the government every five years.

“That’s the first problem. Stop looking anywhere else and stop Hawthorn from doing their own deal.

“But secondly, if they had put this to us in 2007 — back when they were trying to relocate the club to the Gold Coast — they might have got a favourable hearing.

“The problem they’ve got 10 years later is that the club’s flying.

“They’ve doubled revenue, doubled memberships … it would be counter-productive for North to play any more games in Tassie than it does now.”

North Melbourne currently plays three games in Hobart each season. Picture: AAP

Brayshaw said he had been assured by his replacement, Ben Buckley, that the club was not going anywhere.

The Kangaroos already have strong ties with Tasmania, currently playing three games a season in Hobart, recently submitting a joint North Melbourne/Tasmania application for an AFLW licence and the state is also home to the Roos Next Generation Academy.

AFL Tasmania chief executive Rob Auld said it was pleasing Tasmania continued to be part of the national conversation.

“Craig Hutchison’s creativity and innovation is well known but my reaction to his recent thinking is that we have a commitment to the AFL clubs playing football in Tasmania, and the current deals that are in place until 2021,” Auld said.

“It is absolutely not our place to comment on matters specific to AFL clubs.

“However, as demonstrated by the recent AFLW submissions, we will continue to work to getting the best outcomes for Tasmania, bringing Tasmania closer to the national competition.”