GOAL SET FOR 2023
Tassie AFL team supremo eyes a four-year dream
THE head of the board with the job of building a business case for a Tasmanian AFL team believes our footy stars could align within four years.
Corporate high-flyer Brett Godfrey, right, said the league was certain to change, which could open the door for a Tasmanian team.
“I do believe that having Tasmania in the AFL is a drawcard,” Mr Godfrey said.
“So that’s why it is really important that we don’t make too many assumptions and decisions today, and I think the game will continue to evolve and maybe 2023 is the right time.”
ENTREPRENEUR Brett Godfrey launched into his new role as head of the football project group that will build Tasmania’s business case for a team in the AFL and boldly named the year he believes the dream might become a reality. Mr Godfrey, 55, of Melbourne, said even though the outlook might seem bleak at this stage, market forces would open the door for Tasmania to join the big time. The co-founder of Virgin Australia, who fell in love with the state flying here with Virgin’s billionaire boss Sir Richard Branson, has been asked to head a project team to put together the case for Tasmania to have an AFL team. He said the one thing that was for certain was change, which could be Tasmania’s golden ticket. “If you look around Australia, all leagues — the NRL, Super Rugby, cricket — it is changing and it is constantly changing to adapt to the market,” Mr Godfrey said. “The market will see change. It doesn’t want to see the same old, same old.
“I do believe that having Tasmania in the AFL is a drawcard. So that’s why it is really important that we don’t make too many assumptions and decisions today, and I think the game will continue to evolve and maybe 2023 is the right time.”
Mr Godfrey was joined on the Project Team by former Woolworths CEO Grant O’Brien, Football Tasmania board member and Lauderdale Football Club president Julie Kay, prominent Tasmanian businessman Errol Stewart, former GWS Giants chief financial officer and now TasRacing CEO, Paul Eriksson, and the executive chairman of Dynamic Sports and Entertainment Group, James Henderson.
No promises, but Mr Godfrey said he would give it his best “crack”. He would treat it like a start-up business.
“It might sound a bit corporate but it has to be done that way,” he said.
“The best opportunity for us is to demonstrate we can meet every criteria the AFL puts before us, and then some.”
The project group had its first meeting at Blundstone Arena yesterday.
Mr Godfrey set a time frame of six months to complete the business case.
“If it’s shorter, great, it it’s longer, it’s longer,” he said. “The idea is to get this right. This is a crack that we are going to have and I do believe it’s time.”
Although a businessman first, Mr Godfrey jumped on board because of his belief in the cause.
“Football is such a unifying sport and such a great national tradition and Tasmania needs to be part of that,” he said.
“I don’t want to raise expectations. We have got to be realistic.
“The AFL is a business and we have to demonstrate that we can grow the size of the pie and not take a slice of it.
“The objective is to get this business case ‘match fit’ so that we are ready when the opportunity comes.
“It’s not going to come in six months, it’s when the opportunity presents that we make sure we are the next and top of the list to participate in the AFL.”
Premier Will Hodgman, joined by Labor leader Rebecca White and Greens leader Cassy O’Connor, said the business case would be watertight.
“We will build the case to give the AFL no opportunity, no reason, no excuse to say Tasmania can’t have its own team in our national competition,” he said. “Until such time that there is a Tasmanian team in the AFL it can’t be called national.”