Mayor says Kingborough wants Tasmania’s AFL High Performance Centre at the Twin Ovals

Kingborough is united behind a bid to be the base for the Tasmanian AFL team’s High Performance Centre at the Twin Ovals and reap the financial rewards that come with it, its mayor says.

Pre-season match between North Melbourne and Melbourne at the Twin Ovals. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

Kingborough is united behind a bid to be the base for the Tasmanian AFL team’s High Performance Centre (HPC) at the Twin Ovals and reap the financial rewards that come with it, its mayor says.

Mayor Paula Wriedt says her council is unanimously behind the $70m state-of-the-art training and administration centre being located at the Twin Ovals.

Kingborough will make it official at its next council meeting on December 18, while Clarence City Council will vote on Monday night on whether or not to be in contention to win the facility for its Rosny precinct.

Clarence and Kingborough have until Wednesday to lodge submissions to host the HPC.

It is hoped the HPC, featuring two ovals, recovery pools, theatres, gymnasium, indoor field, consultation rooms for selected medical specialists, administration offices for 100–150 staff, merchandise shop and café, can be completed sometime in 2025.

Clarence’s public survey to gauge support for the HPC being in its jurisdiction received 71 per cent support. It was the second-highest respose to a CCC survey, including the survey for its City Heart Master Plan, which received only about 40 responses.

Ms Wriedt is keen for it to be in Kingborough based at its sports precinct.

Pre season match between North Melbourne and Melbourne at the Twin Ovals. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

“Absolutely. And we are united in that,” she said.

“It would be incredible to be able to have the facility in Kingborough, and it would really be another piece in the puzzle of Kingborough’s growth.

AFL: JLT Community Series, North Melbourne vs. Melbourne, Twin Ovals, Kingston Tasmania: Melbourne's Max Gawn feeds out a handball Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

“We’ve already got so much happening – we’ve just done a major upgrade in the main street, we’ve got Kingborough Park area that has been developed, and we’ve got future developments that are going to go ahead in that park area that would provide additional housing.

“And if we secure this, who knows what we might be able to attract to our area – we might be able to get a hotel or something like that.

“This is really important for us strategically and I think our members respect and understand that.

“All we can do is put our best case forward and hopefully it’s good enough.

“That fact we are united, and we have the support of clubs that are currently users of those facilities, and it would go into an identified sporting precinct, are all bonuses and hopefully make it an attractive proposition.”

The estimated economic benefit through the construction phase is almost $20m, while local businesses will benefit by an average $55m per annum in additional income to their area, and the overall financial impact to its regional is estimated at $23.7m.

Property values would also increase.

“There are strong economic benefits of having such a facility in the community and also the community benefits that can flow from it,” Ms Wriedt said.

“We are a really large growth area.

“We’ve had the JackJumpers training at Kingborough Sports Centre since they were formed, and a lot of the players have chosen to live in Kingborough and are really enjoying the lifestyle.

AFL Pre season match at Twin Ovals between North Melbourne and Melbourne. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

“So we are at our happiest as a community particularly if there are people with families who are going to come and live here, next to staff and so on.

“We’re not just a nice area, we’ve got a great playing surface already at the Twin Ovals, and there are not too many surfaces like that.

“When we’ve had preseason games there, people have said it’s one of the best surfaces in the AFL.

“And we can work in with the timeframes really well, because it’s a very short timeframe to build a couple of ovals from scratch on terrain that isn’t flat already and let it settle before people start using it.

“I feel like we’ve got a really great facility there that can be extended.

“At the same time we can do that by not disadvantaging any other local sporting groups.

“We have 32 sporting organisations that play and train at the Kingborough sports complex, so it just makes sense to co-locate another sports facility there rather than having it separate.”

Expansion has been on Kingborough’s long-term plan for that precinct.

“We own significant amounts of land there and we’ve always said we would keep it for future development of the sports precinct and not sell them off for housing or anything else,” Ms Wriedt said.

“We know we are going to grow so much and that will strain our facilities and we are going to need more ovals and to expand the Kingborough Sports Centre.

“So strategically it makes a lot of sense for us to have the High Performance Centre as part of that.”

Premier club united behind HPC bid, happy with integration plans

Tasmania’s premier football team backs Kingborough Council’s plan to attract the “once in a lifetime” AFL High Performance Centre to Kingston and having a Twin Ovals and having up to four grounds there.

Paul Gadomski, president of the Tasmanian State League’s reigning premier the Tigers, was excited by the prospect of a $70m facility landing in his club’s home base.

Kingborough council has taken the club along for the ride as it tries to attract the administration and training base of Tasmania’s AFL and AFLW teams, VFL and VFLW teams, and Boys and Girls under-18 Coates League Talent teams.

“A fair bit of consultation has gone on between the council and our club before the bid was completed,” Gadomski said.

“The footy club is 100 per cent behind it.”

Tigers celebrate. TSL grand final Kingborough Tigers V North Launceston. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Rather than being squeezed out of its home, the Kingborough Tigers would be integrated into the revamped sporting precinct.

“Part of the proposal is that there will be Twin Ovals No. 3 built and then there’s also room in the master plan for Twin Ovals No. 4,” Gadomski said.

Expansion would be good all-round for the Kingborough region.

“It would be awesome for the whole community,” Gadomski said.

CEO of Cripps and Kingborough Tigers president Paul Gadomski at Cripps’ headquarters in Glenorchy. Picture: Zak Simmonds

“It’s a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity and communities don’t get these opportunities very often for an elite high-performance team to be located somewhere in their area.

“What it will do for the sporting precinct alone will be massive.”

The Tigers club, from its men’s and women’s seniors to boys and girls Auskickers, would have various levels of access to the HPC, as would players from other sports.