WHY AFL SHOULD TAKE A LOOK WEST

COME August, when the AFL’s club presidents vote on whether a 19th licence should be awarded to Tasmania, they and chief executive Gillon McLachlan should look at the success out west when considering the decision.

At a glance, Tassie and Western Australia contrast wildly. But home in a little on the small towns of WA and you will see similarities with our state.

Those familiar with both states will know the struggle to find any sort of rectangular oval with those strange “H-shaped” posts and will no doubt recognise the local Aussie rules team’s banner plastered on a large sign somewhere central.

The locals in these towns will rarely miss an opportunity to talk up their local AFL hero who somehow happens to share personal anecdotes with nearly everyone in town.

According to AFL club membership figures, WA’s two teams, the West Coast Eagles (106,422 members) and the Fremantle Dockers (50,342 members), held almost 14 per cent of all AFL memberships in 2021.

That is in a year when the Eagles, who had the most members of any club, finished ninth on the ladder and the Dockers eleventh – suggesting these fans are not “bandwagoners”.

Another thing that should be considered by Mr McLachlan, the AFL Commission and club presidents is the pathways the two clubs provide for young footballers in the west, often leaving them with a good shot at playing for their home state.

Both clubs’ AFL and AFLW rosters field an overwhelming amount of talent from within the state and stars such as Eagle Nic Naitanui and Docker Nat Fyfe are lauded like megacelebrities around the state.

West Coast is limping through the worst season in the club’s history but, so far this year, the Eagles have put an average 25,920 bums on seats at Optus Stadium each game.

Fremantle is on the tear this year and is a serious finals contender – it is averaging crowds of 30,434 at home games.

Perth’s state-of-the-art Optus Stadium this year has attracted rugby league’s State of Origin blockbuster, an international Wallabies v England rugby test match, a plethora of international cricket and music acts such as Ed Sheeran and Guns and Roses – major events that mostly skip Tasmania.

It is hard not to look west in envy at what the AFL has done for WA, and it’s doubtful the league regrets its expansion across the Nullarbor all those years ago.

Perhaps Tasmanians can also take a look over and ponder what a new, equitably multipurpose city stadium and a homegrown AFL side can do for this AFL heartland state.