Premier Peter Gutwein delivers a verbal shirtfront to ‘conflicted’ AFL Hawks boss Jeff kennett

“What Jeff says in this debate, people should take with a pinch of salt.” Hawthorn boss Jeff Kennett has been put in his place after his Tasmanian AFL team sledge.

• Premier demands team, threatens to end Hawks and Roos deals
• Brett Godfrey says he can build a good case for a Tassie AFL team

HAWTHORN’S outspoken president Jeff Kennett copped a verbal smackdown from the Premier and the architect of Tasmania’s 267-page AFL licence blueprint for claiming a Tasmanian AFL team would be a “financial disaster”.

Refusing to renew contracts with Hawthorn and North Melbourne until the AFL gives him a timeline for Tasmania entering the big league or says it is not going to happen, Premier Peter Gutwein said Kennett’s main concern was his club’s share of the $8 million the state government pays the Hawks and Kangaroos to play four home-and-away games each season in Launceston and Hobart respectively.

Hawks president Jeff Kennett.

“Jeff Kennett is the most conflicted person in this debate,” Mr Gutwein said.

“That is because he is the chairman of a club that benefits to the tune of $4 million a year and he would like to see that continue.

“So what Jeff says in this debate, people should take with a pinch of salt.”

AFL Taskforce chairman Brett Godfrey urged Kennett to produce his financial evidence against a Tasmanian AFL team.

“I didn’t know he had produced a business case,” Mr Godfrey said.

“We’ve done the work and I believe was have substantiated a valid case.

“He’s missing a bunch of points.

“At the moment, the state pays $8 million a year for his club and North Melbourne to participate and play.

“That would be redirected to this particular football club [Tasmanian AFL team].

“Tasmania can sustain a football team for the same reason Geelong, which has half our population, is in the competition.

“I don’t understand where he gets his information from.”

AFL Taskforce chairman Brett Godfrey. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

Mr Godfrey said Mr Gutwein’s demand for a firm timeline, and his refusal to renew the Hawks and Kanga deals until the AFL obliges, was a recommendation in the AFL Licence Taskforce Business Plan.

With an AFL team projected to be worth $70-$100 million a year to the state’s economy, Mr Gutwein revealed he had heard from the AFL after his forthright letter to CEO Gill McLachlan this week.

“I’ve asked for a timeline to our own licence or they explain very clearly that they are not going to give us one,” Mr Gutwein said.

“It’s time for the AFL to explain exactly their view on where we stand and our business case.

“Mr McLachlan called me last night to indicate the AFL Commission had had a meeting earlier this week where Tasmania had been discussed and that I would receive a reply to my letter in the coming week.”

Premier Peter Gutwein has delivered an ultimatum to the AFL. Picture: Chris Kidd

The prospect of Hawthorn or North Melbourne, or both, pulling out of Tasmania before the state gets a team was not on the Premier’s radar.

“I would hope that is not the case and it would be important based on the dates in our business case, which is for a team around 2025, that we have the opportunity to put in place transitional arrangements with Hawthorn and North Melbourne through that period,” he said.

“I want to see AFL content played in Tasmania in the lead-up to our own licence.

“But we cannot finalise those contracts with Hawthorn and North Melbourne until we know what the future holds.

“My expectation would be that we will have AFL played here next year but we need clarity from the AFL and I made it perfectly clear to Mr McLachlan we need to have that this year.”

AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Godfrey said the Premier’s tactic to hold out was justified.

“The government needs to extract whatever leverage it can and that included, we suggested in the business case, not renewing these contracts until they get some clarity,” Godfrey said.

“And that’s all the Premier has done – he has been very clear from day one that we need to get clarity about the state’s future and the state deserves clarity not platitudes

“The Premier said the game is in decay, so why would you continue to contract these two clubs yet local participation has gone down, engagement has gone down, and crowds have gone down?

“Why would you keep throwing the same money at them? Clearly, you need to have a different strategy.”

Mr Kennett said he wants a successful Tasmanian team, not a financial basket case.

“There are already 12 clubs dependent on the AFL for finance to survive of the 18,” Mr Kennett said.

“My heart says yes to a Tasmanian team at some stage, my economic mind says the last thing I want is a Tasmanian team that is going to fail.

“There has to be a security of finance for at least 10 years to give a Tasmanian team the chance to succeed. I don’t know where that money is coming from.”