Time for the Tasmanian Government to play hard ball as long game proves loser

Without a pathway to a Tassie AFL team we should be investing our money and energy in other sports. The government needs to forget spending another cent on deals with the Hawks and the Roos, says Mercury Sports Editor Brett Stubbs. Do you agree? Read his analysis >>

• Why a Tasmanian AFL team is more than a pipedream
• Why Tasmania is prepared to turn its back on AFL after years of neglect

THE Tasmanian Government and Premier Peter Gutwein pulled out of the contest with the AFL last week but there is still time for redemption.

The government received the perfect pass from its own AFL Taskforce in the battle for our own team and fumbled it.

Mr Gutwein has built a reputation on strong leadership throughout the COVID crisis but he – or at least his government – squibbed it on this occasion.

L-R Sports Minister Jane Howlett, Jim Wilkinson, Premier Peter Gutwein, Brett Godfrey, Errol Stewart at the recent AFL taskforce announcement. Picture: PATRICK GEE

Taskforce Chair Brett Godfrey – a non-Tasmanian with no football background – came to this project as a sceptic but is now as passionate as anyone about the state’s big league push.

He could not be clearer with his message – without a pathway to the state’s team, Tasmania should be investing its money and energy in other sports.

But this move needs the support of the government and it didn’t get it.

The Taskforce, made up of eminent business leaders and football identities, put their collective reputations on the line in backing a Tasmanian team and proposing a way to get there that received national traction, only for the Premier to deliver glib lines about how he supports a team and the state was a “tremendous supporter” of AFL content in Tasmania.

It is easy for the AFL to ignore a Taskforce, but it is a lot harder to ignore a state.

The question for the government is will it renew the contracts with Hawthorn and North Melbourne without a clear pathway to a Tasmanian AFL team?

If it does, then the Taskforce’s nearly two years work and the state’s best chance for a team has been wasted.

We will be no closer than what we were prior to the Taskforce’s formation.

The Premier has previously said the next contracts will be bridging contracts to our own team, but Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett has stated he is after another five-year deal and we are still far from hearing from the AFL whether it has any intention of bringing the state into its “national” competition.

Tasmania’s only leverage is the $8 million of taxpayer money it has on the table for the Hawks and the Roos.

It will take political leadership and bravery to extricate the Hawks from Launceston – and a strong tourism business plan for the region to replace them – but if the state is serious about landing a team, this is the path it must follow.

Maybe the government’s vanilla comments were not to undermine its negotiating position but surely in any discussions it is better to start from a position of strength rather than start in the middle and then compromise?

It is not an easy position for the government, but it finally has the chance to land the telling blow that could see the Devils take to an AFL field in the near future.

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