Judgment day is nigh on the most promising bid yet for a Tasmanian AFL team, and some of the rhetoric has become tiresome.
Many are understandably passionate about our state joining the national competition in a sport that is part of our way of life.
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That's not overstating it either; Australian Rules football still gives some of our smaller communities their sense of identity.
It faces more competition than ever before from other sports, and challenges too with social and demographic changes, but Tasmania remains an AFL state.
Claims then that a refusal to grant us a license for our own club will sound the death knell for the game here are simply absurd.
We've never had our own team and yet we are an AFL stronghold. Why would that suddenly change?
Young Tasmanians - indeed Tasmanians of all ages - are not just going to walk away from the sport that they love.
There have been arguments that in the event of an AFL snub, the state government should withdraw its support for games to be played here.
Given successive governments have celebrated the economic value of those deals with Hawthorn and North Melbourne, that would seem to be a case of wanting to cut off our nose to spite our face.
Of course, there is an element in all this talk of trying to apply pressure on those who will make the decisions.
And, reportedly, from the perspective of those few clubs supposedly opposed to our bid, there are demands too that the state government put up more money.
If that's true, Premier Jeremy Rockliff should tell AFL chief Gillon McLachlan when they meet today (Thursday) that it's not an option.
There would already be more than a few Tasmanians unhappy about the thought of bankrolling an AFL team to the tune of $150 million over 10 years.
Much as the believers want this to be the time that we get our own team, it cannot come at any cost and it is not the case that it is somehow our last chance.
Though it would be extremely disappointing if it were to go against us, that shouldn't be the end of the fight.
Perhaps if the AFL sees that football-loving Tasmanians will never surrender this dream we may realise it sooner.
