Outgoing AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan says he has spoken to several “star marquee players” who have indicated they’d be open to a move to Tasmania.
The state was finally granted the 19th AFL licence on Wednesday after decades of persistence, with entry into the competition currently slated for 2028.
Attracting star players and young talent without compromising the other 18 sides will be a key challenge for the league, but one McLachlan believes is achievable.
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“I think we’ve learned a lot about list builds and how we do that work to ensure, I think, probably more immediate success rather than longer term success,” he said on Wednesday.
“I think that we have tools and free agency and a lot, we learned a lot about actually how you do that while limiting the impact on the rest of the competition.
“Then in the end, like in our heavily regulated, equalised game, there’ll be the right people in the right spots making the right decisions.
“I think we will, reasonably quickly and with the support of the clubs, get a set of rules to put the squad together. It’ll be good decision making after that.”
McLachlan said he didn’t believe ‘selling’ the idea of playing for the Tasmanian side would be an issue.
“Like everything, Gold Coast works for some players and Geelong works for others. I think clubs are doing a much better job understanding what markets suit what players,” he said.
“I‘ve certainly spoken to enough star marquee players who love coming down here, starting young families … I’m not worried about that.
“I think we’ve had legitimate concerns historically, (but) this is a different city, this is a different state.
“What players want to be able to do is be good footballers, whether the AFLW or AFL, the facilities are going to be first class and playing in what I think what will be an incredible, pumping venue in the middle of a great city.”
Both Gold Coast and GWS have entered the competition in recent years, with the Giants making a grand final while the Suns are yet to play finals.
McLachlan said the learnings from both of those clubs would aid the build of the Tasmanian side.
“We‘ve learned a lot. The drafts will be much less compromised than they’ve been in the past. Free agency give us as leverage to do that,” he said.
“We’ve seen that actually there’s a lot of mature players who are ready to play who are not getting games across the board.
“There’s more mechanisms now and there’s more liquidity in the player market and we believe we can use that to have a very competitive team from day one with much less impact on the competition.”
