WAY TO GLORY
AFL Tasmania is close to finalising an alignment with North Melbourne it hopes will reduce the drain of players leaving the TSL for interstate.
The partnership will give State League players the opportunity to play in the VFL with the Roos reserves side.
North Melbourne parted ways with Werribee at the end of this season and will field a stand-alone outfit in the competition for the first time since 1999.
The TSL has been constantly raided in the past few seasons by cashed up clubs from interstate competitions, while some players believe they can’t get drafted to the AFL as mature-age picks from the state’s top competition.
Former Adelaide defender and Clarence utility Sam Siggins — who finished runner-up in the Alastair Lynch medal this year — is the latest player to move interstate in an effort to revive his AFL dream, heading to Geelong’s VFL side.
He joins the likes of North Launceston’s Jay Lockhart, Tigers midfielder Brandon Batchelor, North Hobart for- ward Julian Dobosz and Lauderdale’s Nick Dodge among the top talent walking away from the Tasmanian football system.
“We will announce shortly an affiliation with North Melbourne that will allow players from Tassie to play on a week-to-week basis with their club,” said AFL Tasmania CEO Rob Auld.
“We feel that will actually put a solution in place that people can explore their aspirations in the AFL without needing to leave the state,” Auld said.
“It needs to be by mutual agreement with the TSL club and VFL, it will need to be something that is not cosmetic, so we are not sending players over there to just get 20 per cent game time.
“And we have to make sure the player they need is the player we have got. You can’t send a tall forward over to play an outside mid role. All of those things have to be present for the opportunity to come.
“We see that as a way of us finding a solution without seeing the drain on the player pool in Tassie needing to happen.”
Auld reiterated the governing body’s stance that the TSL salary cap will not be increased any time soon, and said he would rather reduce the spending of community clubs in competitions such as the SFL and Old Scholars.
“We have seen more movement than we have probably seen in the last couple of years in between TSL and community football,” he said.
“I would like to see the player points in a competitive balance framework slowing down the movement between clubs and players. For me, the solution relies in taking the heat out of the economy below the State League, not lifting the State League salary cap.
“We have to live within our means and if we raised the State League salary cap before the clubs were ready to support that increase, we might race to the bottom.”