Dear Gilly,

I write to you as a footy fan from Tasmania (yeah that pesky little state to the south that keeps asking for an AFL team of its own and that you keep fobbing off).

I was hoping you could provide like-minded Tassie footy fans with some insight into what comes next for AFL footy in our state post-2021.

We know the Tassie Hawks (the AFL team we adopted because we couldn’t have our own) have signed a new deal with the state government to play four games at Aurora Stadium until 2021. And we’re happy about that!

The Hawks have been rewarded for their 16 years of hard work and loyalty to the state with a huge supporter base statewide, nearly 9000 members and every second kid at footy clinics (in the North of the state anyway) wearing a Hawks jumper.

The other original tenant St Kilda walked away in 2006 because then coach Grant Thomas didn’t like playing games here (but now they want to now come back having seen how successful the Hawks have been).

Similarly, the johnny-come-latelys North Melbourne wanted to get in on the Hawks’ act and answered a call from AFL Tasmania, Hobart City Council and Southern powerbrokers to play three games a year at Bellerive Oval because they couldn’t stand the fact that Launceston was hosting AFL fixtures to big crowds while Hobart was missing out on the economic benefits the games bring. 

So now we have seven AFL games a year with the Roos keen to extend their agreement to play three in Hobart for another five years, until 2021. All good.

But your humble correspondent understands that the AFL are not happy with that two-team model, (which is working perfectly well) and believes that a one-team model would better suit the state, with one club playing eight games a year across the North and the South.

And that club would gain the rights to young talent in a state academy. (No prizes for guessing which club you want that to be by the way.)

We think that is what your own Garlick report has recommended but we can’t be sure because you haven’t made the report public yet or let anyone in on its recommendations.

But we do know that your predecessor big Andy offered the Hawks a $7 million incentive to leave the state in 2012, an offer which Jeff Kennett and his board knocked back and revealed publicly, much to the AFL’s chagrin.

No wonder Hawthorn chief executive Stuart Fox feels that you guys have failed to acknowledge the hard work of his club and their success in the state or are prepared to highlight the benefits of the two-team model going forward.

Fox feels it is frustrating to see the AFL’s support for a one-team model and believes there was no reason why the Hawks and Roos cannot continue to co-habit.

He said the club hoped to extend their partnership with Tasmania post 2021.

By the way, if you want the Hawks to leave after 2021 you might have to up the ante after their three premierships in a row, to a much more substantial figure.

And if you think ardent Hawthorn fans in the North of the state will support North Melbourne games at Aurora Stadium should that option eventuate in the future then you are dreaming and don’t be surprised if crowds bottom out and make the 12,670 that attended North Melbourne’s last game in Hobart look good in comparison.

But I don’t really think bums on seats at North games is your main concern.

Anyway, it must have thrown a real spanner in the works when North chief executive Carl Dilena came out earlier this month and said that the Kangaroos (which previously knocked back a move to fully relocate to the Gold Coast) would not be that one club at any time.

But despite not wanting to “own” Tassie and play eight games here as the sole AFL tenant, Dilena did say they wanted to be the club that gains access to our young talent through a state academy. Go figure!

Seems to me Gilly that you AFL boys are stuck with three options:

a) continue with the two-team model post 2021,

b) scrap the two-team model for your preferred one team model (even if it is not North Melbourne but it is hard to see any other club stepping up to relocate here), or

c) come up with a better option – like the AFL pouring some of the millions of dollars into Tassie the same way it has done in other states and establishing a truly Tasmanian team in the national competition.

As a side note, it is pleasing to see the Launceston City Council being proactive and preparing a strategy to address the future of AFL games in the North of the state.

We need a Northern voice at the table when the AFL, Hawthorn and North Melbourne sit down to discuss future plans lest you guys be swayed by Southern sentiment only.

We don’t have many people, or much money, but we love our footy and a rich cousin could work wonders with the will and deep enough pockets.

It took us years of trying before Cricket Australia gave Tassie entry into the Sheffield Shield competition but need we remind you of lil ol’ Tassie’s success since then.

We look forward  to you enlightening us with your cunning plan that hopefully will take into account Tassie’s best interests and desires for post-2021.

But given the dismissive treatment we’ve received from the AFL in the past – we won’t hold our breath.