FOOTY IN THE DOOR

WESTERN Bulldogs boss Peter Gordon believes the AFL should consider expanding to 19 or 20 teams — and Tassie should get the first slot.

The Dogs president said he did not want to “cut across” what Hawthorn and North Melbourne had achieved in growing the audience in Tasmania.

But he said a stand-alone Tasmanian team would be a great reward for the state considering the history of what it had contributed to football over the past century.

Mr Gordon said there was no reason why the competition could not be expanded further.

“In the NFL there are 32 teams and in the NBA and Major League Baseball there are 30,” he said.

“Australian football and the AFL and Tasmania are crying out for a Tasmanian team.

“When you see the continued cries for help of local footy clubs in Tasmania, when you look at the history of what Tasmania has contributed to football in the past 100 years and you think about the best ways to reinvigorate and assist that state and junior footy in that state, it’s certainly something that the AFL commission should consider.”

Asked directly if he supported making a Tasmanian team the 19th in the competition, Mr Gordon said: “Yeah, I do. And I think it’s a matter that ought to be legitimately canvassed by a future AFL commission.”

Regarding the location of a 20th team, Gordon said: “I think Adelaide and Perth will both have sufficient scale, population and passion to come under consideration for a third club in the future.

“But the one standout at the moment is Tasmania.”

A move to 20 clubs could enable a fixture in which teams play each other once in the home-and-away season but Mr Gordon said a rolling bye in a 19-team competition would also have benefits.

“The best model for growing the game is to support all of these clubs, including the Gold Coast Suns, and the people who volunteer, like [president] Tony Cochrane and his board do,” he said.

He said the $200 million Gold Coast Suns experiment “will come good” eventually.