New ally in push for team

IT may be thousands of kilometres from Tasmania and the heartland of a different football code, but Townsville has emerged as a potential ally in the state’s AFL bid.

Tasmania’s quest for an AFL team bears similarities to the North Queensland Cowboys’ successful bid for an NRL licence in the mid-’90s, Townsville’s mayor believes.

Cr Jenny Hill’s views come after the Mercury revealed Cowboys 2015 premiership hero Johnathan Thurston had provided informal advice on player retention to the taskforce behind Tasmania’s AFL bid.

Learnings about the Cowboys’ success from the rugby league legend, who serves on a Queensland tourism board with taskforce chairman Brett Godfrey, could be crucial to furthering Tasmania’s argument for a team.

Cr Hill said she was sympathetic to Tasmania’s bid and backed Thurston’s suggestions of the benefits of a more regional lifestyle away from Australia’s largest cities.

“We’ve got a number of players in the Cowboys that are home grown,’’ she said.

A new 25,000 seat stadium is being built in Townsville, which has a population of less than 200,000 people.

There is speculation a new multipurpose stadium at Hobart’s Macquarie Point could be built as early as 2025. Speaking on Adelaide radio station FIVEaa, high-profile football journalist Caroline Wilson talked up the proposition as being central to an AFL bid.

“There’s been talk about a government development there for a long time but there’s a lot of very important backers who are talking about just how big this could be for tourism in that state and particularly in that city,’’ she said.

A State Government spokesperson yesterday said the concept of the multi-code facility had merit but was in its early stages. The Government said a masterplan for Macquarie Point would drive the future of the site.

“The AFL Taskforce’s job is to think big, they are working on their report and the Government looks forward to receiving their views.”