Aware of the state's parochial tendencies, Tasmania Devils chair Grant O'Brien is under no illusions about the difficult task that is uniting the regions.
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Following AFL Tasmania's decision to opt for a regional model to support the incoming VFL team, the resulting discontinuation of the State League has so far proved a major roadblock in ensuring universal support for the change in approach.
Speaking before Launceston and North Launceston's joint announcement that they would not sign the affiliation agreement to join the NTFA premier league, O'Brien said while he understood the change would be a challenging process, he believed it to be necessary.
"The future is going to be different, the State League will be discontinued and there'll be AFL and AFLW teams coming in, so there's going to be change," he said.
"I think what having AFL and AFLW teams does is it enables this state to reorganise within a fairly solid framework. It's got talent pathways, it's got community football and I think - I'm a long way away from it, so I may be unqualified to comment - but I'm not sure that the State League was on the up.
"I think the state needs to reorganise and it's going to take a little bit of time to do that."
An accusation levelled at AFL Tasmania and the new football structure is that it is 'Hobart-centric' and will come at the detriment of the sport's health in the North.
O'Brien dismissed this claim, believing that there is abundant evidence which points to a statewide approach.
"We're continuing to point to the scoreboard and say, 'look, we're doing everything we possibly can to make sure that this is a club that people relate to right across the state and feel like they've got access to right across the state'," he said.
"There is not a page or a paragraph or a line or a word in our business plan that says, let's make this Hobart-centric.
"We'd be nuts.
"That's not how the state is and ... we're doing our darndest to provide reasons for people to believe us."
O'Brien pointed to the board's announcement in Launceston, the announcement of his role in Penguin, board meetings in Devonport and Launceston alongside the statewide club launch and community engagement days as proof of the Devils' commitment to ensuring statewide connection.
"We've got a vested interest in football right across the state being as successful as it can be, we will be a beneficiary of that, and our club will be at its best when it's got as many Tasmanians representing it as possible," he said.
"So our motivations are going to be very much to ensure there are nurseries right across the state and they're properly supported, properly funded, and provide the opportunities to both community and the players.
"I don't think that we've got a different ambition to what those in the regions have got.
"If people are looking for reasons to say this is going to be a Hobart club, I don't think they're looking objectively."