St Kilda coach Ross Lyon has already begun “strategising” with his list manager to deal with the potential of compromised drafts to help build the new Tasmanian team.
But premiership winning Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has no concern over a possible dilution of the national talent pool when the AFL’s 19th team is formed and declared the move “fundamentally good” for the game.
Lyon had previous declared the 18 other AFL teams would potentially “pay the price” for the new team, having seen drafts impacted by the recent inclusions of the Gold Coast Suns and GWS Giants.
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While the new Tasmanian outfit could be as many as five years away from fielding its first team, Lyon, while excited at the prospect of the new outfit, said it was crucial to plan now.
“(We need to) try and understand what the ramifications are and what it means for your list because someone’s got to pay the fare,” he said on Wednesday.
“We talk weekly on the near term and the long term about our list, which is great. We’re all building on the same page.
“It’s about the age profile of your list. There’s no doubt when they come in and the draft gets diluted, that strong lists in that period, it gives you a real opportunity for success – I think revisionist history will show you that.”
Goodwin said for the “broader picture of the game” Tasmania’s inclusion was a tremendous next step and was confident finding enough talent to full another playing list would not be an issue.
“Tassie is a very proud football state, and I think it‘s great for the Tasmanians and I know that it will be a pretty, pretty cool team,” he said. .
“I think you see the game it is now and the talent that continues to walk through our doors … there’s a lot of talent out there in Australia in footy and there‘s a lot of guys that miss out on opportunities and if they are put in the right environment, they can develop into great players,” he said.
“So I think that talent won‘t be an issue. I think we still have a great game of footy as we have had for the last period of time.
“It’s continued to grow our game and participation rates continue to increase and having another team in our competition is only going to do that again.”
The enthusiasm from the coaches came as one of Tasmania’s greatest AFL exports, Matthew Richardson, says any fight over naming the 19th team the “Devils” could be avoided by going with the “Islanders” as their name.
In the original business case it was planned to called the team the “Tasmanian Devils”, the name used by the state’s under-18 side, having registered it as a trademark through the Australian government.
But it is understood the commercial trademark is owned by Warner Bros Entertainment for the cartoon character that has been made famous across the world, and the AFL could be in for a fight to use the name.
Richardson, who was drafted to Richmond from Hobart where he grew up, said the likelihood that new AFL chief executive elect Andrew Dillon would allow the Tasmanian people to choose the name was sound.
But Richardson said his choice could help avoid any issue.
“I think we should go for something new. But you know what I recommend that people should decide … throw it out there and let the people of Tasmania come up with some names and some ideas and then let them let them vote on it,” Richardson told RSN.
“I did mention the Islanders the other day. It is what it is, Tassie is an island. There are other teams called the Islanders. That’s one that immediately came to mind.
“We’ve done the Devils, we’ve done the Mariners.”
