Glenn Archer is unabashed in rejecting long-term plans to retain one club’s home games in Tasmania under an AFL one-team state proposal.
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The ex-North Melbourne champion, who played 311 games from 1992 to 2007, holds a seat on the club’s board and feels in a good position to speak on the issue.
“I can declare my hand there and hopefully I am not speaking out of school, but while I’m on the board I wouldn’t want to play more than four games in Tassie,” Archer said.
“Purely because we have to look our own supporters in Melbourne, which is the majority of them.
“Not going to the Gold Coast (in 2011) and getting our North Melbourne name back, we really just couldn’t play any more games in Hobart or Launceston. I just couldn’t see that happening.”
The AFL’s “independent” Garlick report proposed the one-team model for a club to play six to eight fixtures a year in Tasmania.
North have been allocated control of a future academy in the state, indicating plans for a stronger presence than its three games in Hobart.
But Hawthorn extended its own deal last year with the state government to play four games a season until 2021 in Launceston, reportedly drawing the ire of the AFL.
“I think it all works well,” Archer said of the current arrangement.
“Hawthorn has been doing it very successful for quite a long time now.
“They've been able to build a good fan base in Launceston – I can’t see why anyone would want to change it.”
North Melbourne have previously played home games at SCG (1999-2001), Manuka Oval in Canberra (2002-2006), Carrara pre-Gold Coast Suns (2007-2009) and now Hobart (2012-).
Archer said the move to play in Bellerive Oval has been a game-changer for the club.
“It’s great for our club – we love being in Tassie down at Hobart,” he said.
‘It’s been great for us, great for our membership, great support down there and we love playing three games just there.”
But the 43-year-old, who will turn out for Ricky’s Biggest Game of Cricket on Friday night at University of Tasmania Stadium to support Ponting’s state-based charities, believed the state has still been given a rough deal.
“I’ve always thought it’s been a bit of shame that they’ve never had their own team, considering how parochial they are about their AFL and not many other sports get a real look in down there,” Archer said.
“I’m not an economist; I could never understand how they couldn’t have their own team...I always look at it and ask why couldn’t they afford to have their own team?”