Every AFL club will have to pay a price when the new Tasmanian team gets a green light and St Kilda coach Ross Lyon knows that could mean losing players.
The rubber stamp for $240m from the federal government to fill a funding shortfall for a new stadium in Hobart, regarded as the last hurdle for the team’s AFL inclusion, could come as soon as this weekend.
Should that occur, planning would begin for the Tasmanian team to be ready to enter the AFL by the 2028 season, which was the proposed build time for the 23,000-seat stadium.
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That planning would also include building a list of players for a 19th team, and while Lyon said he wouldn’t give the list implications much thought until a timeline was confirmed, he acknowledged that all clubs would need to sacrifice players to the expansion side for the greater good of the league.
“I hope they don’t leave the Saints, I hope they leave the Cats,” Lyon said on Wednesday.
“Look, expansion teams are always challenging, I haven’t really got my head around … I think it goes up and down, yesterday it was off, today it’s on, so until we get it officially, until it gets edited and stamped through parliament, we won’t worry about it.
“But I think our list managers and that will have a greater understanding … clearly, once a decision is made to invest all that, the competition pays a price for the longer-term benefit.”
When the Gold Coast Suns and GWS Giants were added to the AFL, the national draft was compromised for several seasons as both were given significant concessions.
A new Tasmanian team might, however, face a battle to lure players south, according to Hawthorn captain James Sicily.
“I think so, particularly as a young guy, because there’s not much happening down there, it could be difficult,” Sicily told RSN.
“I couldn’t imagine myself living there. It would be hard.”
Lyon said he would not give his opinion on how players should be signed by or given up to the Tasmanian team until the Saints worked out a “club position” on the issue.
“It’s a really good question, but it’s not one I’m really qualified to answer,” he said.
“We like to get a club position on it, we’ll get our CEO Simon Lethlean and our list manager and everyone together, get a club position, and be united in our view and lobby that view at the right time at the AFL Commission or to the executive I would think.”
