Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson is the latest to endorse Tasmania’s push for an AFL club.
With Colin Carter’s independent report finding that the best option could be a club relocating to the Apple Isle, Clarkson feels they should instead have their own start-up club to call their own.
Speaking after his side’s 64-37 win over the Western Bulldogs in Launceston, the four-time premiership coach detailed how he’d go about expansion in Tasmania with a target to have the 19th franchise added in five years’ time.
“If you’re going to have a Tassie side, let’s get it cracking from scratch,” Clarkson said.
“Don’t have a relocated team and don’t have a quasi team. The quasi team has been in place for maybe 20 years.
“Tassie have done enough for the game to deserve their own side. At some point in time, I hope they get it.
“I think they need to do it in a measured manner, and if I was the AFL, ‘I’d say listen, let’s have Tassie in by 2025 or 2026 and let’s get them started now’.
“Get an AFLW team from Tassie, let’s get a team in the under-19 comp and a team in the VFL.
“Just build from the ground and just slowly build the infrastructure over four or five years and I think by 2025 or 2026, then Tassie could be a really viable option as the 19th team in the competition.”
While Carter’s report recommended that a current club should potentially relocate south, there is still no clear timeframe of when that may occur.