The state has exceeded its pre-COVID player registration numbers, with a whopping 23 per cent increase in girls playing youth football compared to 2019.

AFL Tasmania boss Damian Gill said the game had experienced incredible growth in women and girls football over the past six years and the surge in popularity had continued in 2021.

"There is a lot to celebrate in Tasmanian football in 2021 and participation numbers are really encouraging," Gill said.

"One of the big unknowns coming into this year was what the lasting impact of 2020 would be.

"For participation in football to recover and exceed pre-COVID levels after such a difficult and disrupted year shows how important community football is to Tasmanians."

Boys are also increasingly signing up to youth football, with a seven per cent growth year-on-year.

Gill said the growth in youth football pointed to a bright future for the sport in Tasmania.

"While Auskick numbers are down by about four per cent on 2019, we are encouraged by the overall recovery from 2019 after a significant drop-off last year," he said.

"There is certainly no complacency, and we recognise that there are some clubs and regions doing it tough.

In a bid to increase participation, AFL Tasmania hopes to take its Auskick program to four new communities and deliver a new centre in 2022, as well as targeting more multicultural communities and females enrolling into existing programs or creating a new centre for these participants.

The North Melbourne Next Gen in-school program will target schools with low AFL player registration to build a base of children aged eight to 10 who've had positive exposure to football with the hope they will transition to playing for a club.

More than 50 per cent of Tasmanian schools are involved in regular AFL rosters and support for those schools will continue, but the AFL will also work with school clusters to deliver competitions in areas where they don't exist.

The AFL said it would offer support to those schools that need to overcome barriers to engagement, including with issues like transport.

This week the AFL committed to providing an answer about a Tasmanian license as early as next year. It came after Premier Peter Gutwein threatened to end the state's contracts with Hawthorn and North Melbourne.