Tasmania's push for an AFL side has been boosted by a high-profile corporate team who hope to create a 'match-fit' business plan by the end of the year.
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Headed by co-founder of Virgin Australia, Brett Godfrey, the group met for the first time on Friday in Hobart.
"We're going to have to demonstrate that we can grow the size of the pie and not take a slice of it," Godfrey told reporters.
"The objective is to get this business case 'match-fit', so that we're ready when the opportunity comes."
Tasmania will be granted a provisional VFL licence in 2021, with league boss Gillon McLachlan in March telling Fox Sports the "building blocks are in place" for a island state-based AFL team.
Godfrey said the group, which includes former GWS chief financial officer and current TasRacing CEO Paul Eriksson and ex-Woolworths boss Grant O'Brien, would create a business case from a clean sheet like a start-up company.
"That might sound a bit corporate but I think it has to be done that way," he said.
"The best opportunity for us is to demonstrate categorically that we can meet the criteria that the AFL puts before us."
Governance, financial requirements, club membership and football community pathways will be considered by the project team.
The state Liberal government has thrown their support and $150,000 behind the push for a men's and women's AFL side.
"We want to give the AFL no opportunity, no reason, no excuse to say Tasmania can't have its own team in our national competition," Premier Will Hodgman said.
"Until such time that there is a Tasmanian team in the AFL it can't be called national."
North Melbourne and Hawthorn currently play four games a year each in Tasmania, a deal which expires in 2021.
The current AFL broadcast rights deal expires in 2023, with Godfrey describing then as "probably the opportunity" for a Tasmanian team.
Australian Associated Press
