Having raised expectations 13months ago when he stated his preference for a one-team model playing across north and south, Gillon McLachlan has firmly placed his personal view in the too-hard basket as both Hawthorn and North Melbourne continue to reap the substantial benefits of selling games to Launceston and Hobart respectively.

There were compelling reasons for McLachlan to back away. Not only was the might of Hawthorn and their highly lucrative multimillion-dollar sponsorship deal threatening to turn  against the then prospective AFL boss, but North Melbourne had undergone a change of heart regarding their original seven-game push for home fixtures in Tasmania.

Andrew Demetriou reportedly advised his successor to choose his early battles carefully. An attempt to unite the island's bitterly divided north and south through just one AFL team was one challenge McLachlan did not need, so the status quo prevailed.

North Melbourne extended their  Hobart deal to three games until the end of 2016 and Hawthorn are negotiating aggressively with the Tasmanian government for a renewed commitment beyond next season. The Hawks have built their dynasty largely upon their wildly successful arrangement with Aurora Stadium and no state government has dared to challenge that.

And yet the AFL, which could take on the Hawks, has chosen not to.

This has seen the loss of a golden opportunity for the game in Tasmania, which contributes some eight per cent of annual draftees despite boasting just over two per cent of the Australian population.

According to last year's AFL-sponsored research into Australian rules football in Tasmania, 50 per cent more of that state's population watches the game in comparison with Victorians, with some 70,000 Tasmanians involved in the game in some level. AFL Tasmania has repeatedly pushed the competition's governing body to support an academy along the lines of those in the northern states but again the AFL has placed that request in the too-hard basket.

Surely as McLachlan's much-heralded review of state football competitions across the county is launched, the prospect of a nationally funded development institution for young Tasmanian talent would appear the very least that state deserves. Especially when you consider the millions being invested into the game in New South Wales and Queensland.

The AFL disregards the threat of soccer but there is no doubt the A-League now takes Tasmania more seriously. And yet, despite committing long-term to NRL territory, the national game still seems complacent about further developing the game in its once-proud and now economically and socially ravaged heartland.

It is not hard to sympathise with the Tasmanian football body, which appears unwilling to rock the boat in what remains a politically volatile scenario. In total the state government, the City of Hobart and the state-run shipping line contribute an estimated $8.2 million a year to stage  seven AFL games.

The view of AFL Tasmania is that while the presence of Hawthorn and North Melbourne contribute to tourism, a one-team model with its own sponsored academy playing between five and seven games across Launceston and Hobart could create jobs, further boost the economy and prove a significant fillip for the game's national development.

These should loom as top-order priorities for the AFL Commission as it holds its historic first board meeting in Hobart in August before travelling to Aurora Stadium for the round-22 Hawthorn-Brisbane Lions game.

It is worth pointing out that North Melbourne is a newcomer to Hobart and the recently refurbished Bellerive Oval and yet the Kangaroos this season boast more than 5000 Tasmanian members. For now the Kangaroos appear unwilling to commit to more games in Tasmania each year, but such a commitment would solve a funding issue for the AFL while Hawthorn could quite clearly survive the challenge of eventually moving out of Tasmania. St Kilda, which wrongly walked away from the state, remains another one-team option based between two states. But it's worth noting the North Melbourne membership effort looks mighty when you consider the Hawks' Tasmanian membership – probably nothelped by the less compelling Launceston fixtures – has stagnated at about 8500.

Tasmania will not win massive sponsorship dollars for the game nor will it capture untapped hearts and minds like those on offer in the unfriendly greater west of Sydney,  which remains such a challenge for the game. But McLachlan at least seems to have a greater appetite for the challenge than his predecessors.

And the challenge of uniting football in Tasmania is a task beyond all but the AFL, a national code which led the way in fighting racism and placed its reputation on the line by taking on the scourge of sexual assault, harassment and discrimination. A code which has pledged to create a national women's league within five years.

If only the AFL could say it resisted political and financial pressures and those of a powerful club and instead showed the leadership required in placing Tasmania firmly and strongly back on the map as a sporting and economic stronghold.