Tassie AFL team: Premier Will Hodgman confirms project team to take Tassie into AFL

UPDATED: The chairman of the new AFL Project team has been described as “the sort of guy who will walk into a room with [AFL CEO] Gill McLachlan and eat him up”.

Virgin Australia founder Brett Godfrey will head the state’s AFL Project team. Picture: LACHIE MILLARD

THE new Tasmanian AFL Project Team chairman has been lauded for his business sense and charisma, and has the capacity to “eat up” league boss Gillon McLachlan.

Premier Will Hodgman has confirmed the Mercury’s report that Virgin Airlines co-founder and inaugural chief executive Brett Godfrey will chair the team tasked with forming Tasmania’s business case for entry into the AFL.

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Mr Godfrey, 55, has spread his wings into Tasmanian tourism, buying Quamby Estate and the Tasmanian Walking Company, with Tourism Industry Council Tasmania chief executive Luke Martin thrilled by the appointment.

“He’s the sort of guy who will walk into a room with Gill McLachlan and eat him up,” Mr Martin said.

“He’s an A-grader.

“Everything about him, he makes things happen.”

He will be joined by former Woolworths CEO Grant O’Brien, Football Tasmania Board member and Lauderdale Football Club president Julie Kay, prominent Tasmanian business identity Errol Stewart, former GWS Giants chief financial officer and current TasRacing CEO Paul Eriksson, and executive chairman of Dynamic Sports and Entertainment Group, James Henderson.

Mr Hodgman said it was a powerful team which would get results.

“Collectively, the Project Team represents decades of experience at the highest levels of Australian business, together with extensive experience in football,” Mr Hodgman said.

“It is a team that is well equipped to demonstrate to the AFL commission that the inclusion of a Tasmanian team would not only stack up financially, but would strengthen the AFL by making it a truly national competition.”

AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan. Picture: CHRIS KIDD

He said the team would consult with the Tasmanian football community, the Football Tasmania Board, the AFL and Government to develop a business case by the end of 2019 which will include consideration of:

GOVERNANCE and organisational structure of the teams;

CLUB support and membership;

FINANCIAL requirements, including estimates of revenue and expenses;

CORPORATE and government support;

INFRASTRUCTURE, facility and capital investment requirements; and

FOOTBALL community pathways.

“They will also provide advice on the most appropriate organisational structure to progress the bid process, which could include the establishment of an entity to take ownership of a future licence,” Mr Hodgman said.

“The project team will hit the ground running with their first meeting being held later this week.”

An AFL spokesman said the league welcomed the team’s creation.

“As the AFL’s Tasmanian steering committee recommended last year, any investment and work into growing and uniting football in Tasmania, from the grassroots level through to the elite, is supported,” the spokesman said.

Mr Martin said the creation of a team of such heavy hitters showed how serious the state was.

He also said it was significant to have a person with a tourism background in charge, as the creation of an AFL team would bring more visitors to the Tasmania during winter and continue to drive the economy.

“They are commercial heads, so this sense of entitlement and heritage hasn’t worked, now we are going to take it on with an economic and business case proposition,” Mr Martin said.

“Everyone understands the moral argument for Tasmania to have a team, we’ve won that debate, now it is about putting the hard figures on it.”

The team was allocated $150,000 in the State Budget to complete its work.