In the controversial days of Andrew Demetriou's tenure heading up AFL expansion, ventures next into Tasmania appeared off the table every time for the chief executive.
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The argument had always been that Tasmania was not a new football market that could grow any further.
That the tiny demographic for the AFL generationally was entrenched to support traditional Victorian teams.
Those that made the likes of Darrel Baldock, Royce Hart and Peter Hudson famous.
But five years out of the job, Demetriou has backtracked on where Tasmania is lying on the sporting landscape.
The 58-year-old only talks of a vision for its NBL future.
"The NBL has aspirations basketball to be the No.1 sport in Tasmania," he said.
"The state has its challenges, but the fact [the NBL] is willing to put a team there that Tasmania can call their own and be shared between Launceston and Hobart is a positive. It's just a great commitment and a great gesture.
"Hopefully, and I am sure it will be the case, Tasmanians will get behind the team."
Demetriou had fallen into his consultancy role for the NBL by total accident.
NBL owner Larry Kestelman had met Demetriou at a function, asked his thoughts on further expansion before making the offer as "coach of the advisory board".
The interest grew after all four children of the AFL boss of a decade took up the game.
"When you're working at the AFL, you're sort of in a bubble and don't take too much notice of what's going on around you," Demetriou said, "but that's why I now think the growth of the game has unlimited possibilities."
ELSEWHERE IN SPORT
Tasmania has not really witnessed NBL play for some 23 years since the demise of the Hobart Tassie Devils. But things are turning around.
The NBL Blitz preseason series arrives on Tasmanian shores in less than a month.
A Tasmanian NBL licence is imminent, possibly even as soon as the end of the year.
Kestelman now waits for the keys to the Derwent Entertainment Centre in a sale from Glenorchy City council.
Basketball's basket case is over. Demetriou said the merit of having its own team on the big stage is warranted more now than ever before.
"I think it can with the right venue, the right number of people involved, the right corporate support and to have government support obviously too, but the fact of the matter is the NBL is playing on a global stage that the AFL wasn't helps," he said.
"Tasmania has a lot to offer and I think it's a great step in the right direction for both basketball but also the state."
Except for seven weeks of the summer when Tasmania is gripped by cricket's Hobart Hurricanes Twenty20 side, the state is unrepresented in the national spotlight.
The NBL can deliver more than five months that Demetriou said can be a financial windfall for Tasmanians.
"I think it's all upside to be honest. I'm really excited by the potential," he said.
"The NBL now have great crowds, they fill up most of their venues, they have great sponsorship dollars.
"Just the competition - the elite nature of it - is probably the second best competition in the world. You have even got NBL teams playing NBA teams, so why wouldn't Tassie want to be a part of it?"
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