An AFL team in Tasmania would topple Gold Coast’s membership numbers within three months, according to Tasmanian Senator Steve Martin.
Martin is the man behind Tasmania’s charge for an AFL licence, launching the T23 website with the long-term aim of having a team in the Apple Isle by 2023.
AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan said “the building blocks” for a Tasmanian team are in place and urged the state to rally by forming a membership group to put significant weight behind a future licence bid.
“Gold Coast Suns have 12,500 members from memory last year, I’m tipping that we can beat that and we can beat that within the next three months,” Martin told SEN’s KB and The Doc.
“It’s about having a call out to everyone around Australia. People look at Tasmania and say: ‘we’ve got a population of 530,000’, but what about the others that have left Tasmania and are now living on the eastern seaboard, over in Perth and in Adelaide? Which would be supportive of a Tasmanian team.
“We’re not taking those into account when we’re having these discussions.”
Western Bulldogs president Peter Gordon also threw his support behind an AFL team in Tasmania after calling for the competition to be expanded to 19 or 20 clubs.
Listen to Steve Martin’s chat on SEN’s KB and The Doc with Kevin Bartlett and Nick Dal Santo in the player below
