Brady said he has not sighted the much-anticipated Garlick Report into Tasmanian football, a summary of which is due to be released on July 5, but believes we have already seen the implementation of the key recommendations.

“It’s clear we can kiss the idea of a Tassie AFL team goodbye,” Brady said.

“The AFL created GWS and Gold Coast backed by a twenty year plan. Tassie would need ten years to prepare. 

“The AFL has decided our future will be supporting Melbourne based teams with a Melbourne club running our elite talent youth academy so they can have first crack at recruiting our best young players.   

“At least we can stop all the nonsense and spin every time there is an AFL game on in Tassie about getting bums on seats to send the AFL a message.” 

Brady said that Tassie crowds are, and will continue to be, larger than GWS and Gold Coast, however the AFL does not rate this as a key performance indicator because for them the equation is all about TV rights income.

“There is no commercial value in Tassie having its own AFL team.” Brady said. “Parochialism is another furphy used as an excuse by the AFL. I work in Tassie footy administration seven days a week and I can assure you administrators around Tassie work together professionally and all share the common goal of giving our players the best opportunities possible.    

“If the AFL are serious about supporting Tassie footy, from next year each AFL game is worth $2 million in TV rights and Tassie has seven games – surely the AFL could put this income straight back into Tassie footy?.”