SECRET WEAPON

LEAGUE LEGEND THURSTON HELPING TASSIE AFL BID

RUGBY league legend Johnathan Thurston, left, has joined football superstar Nick Riewoldt in giving advice on player retention to the taskforce building a case for a Tassie AFL team, the Mercury can exclusively reveal.

THE taskforce behind a Tasmanian AFL bid is hoping rugby league legend Johnathan Thurston will be their secret weapon in the quest for the state’s own team.

The Mercury can reveal the North Queensland Cowboys 2015 NRL premiership hero has provided informal advice through his personal connection to taskforce chairman Brett Godfrey.

The taskforce formally engaged with officials at Thurston’s beloved former club, which is based in Townsville, a city of less than 200,000 people.

Mr Godfrey has met with the Cowboys’ chairman and plans to meet with the club’s chief executive as early as next week.

Mr Godfrey said Thurston’s insight into what made the Cowboys successful could prove to be invaluable to the case for a long-awaited Tasmanian AFL team.

“I think he’s going to add a huge amount of weight to our case, because he is an absolute legend in this part of the world. Everyone knows and loves him, he’s an immortal,’’ he said.

Mr Godfrey said demonstrating how a Tasmanian team would attract and retain players would be key to strengthening the state’s argument.

“Johnathan made it clear to me that he believes that environment was conducive to being the successful club they were when they won a grand final,’’ he said.

“He is of a view that not all kids are suited to a city environment to bring out the best performance in them.

“Johnathan was really clear that he played his best football when he left Sydney to play up there.”

Mr Godfrey, who serves on a tourism board in Queensland with Thurston, said the Cowboys’ success showed players could flourish in a more relaxed environment away from major cities.

“This is all to disprove that myth that we won’t be able to attract people because we’re not Chapel St [Melbourne],’’ he said.

“We’re trying to put something together that is not Melbourne-centric, that is saying some kids, particularly country kids, may feel more comfortable in a different environment than a city.”

Last week, the case for a Tasmanian AFL team reached a significant milestone when a pledge campaign at the unitedwestand.com.au website eclipsed a target of 50,000 supporters.

That campaign was an initiative of the State Government’s taskforce, chaired by Mr Godfrey, which is building a business case to present to the AFL by the end of this year.