Demons, Lions for Hobart

Demons, Lions to line up in Hobart against Roos

NORTH Melbourne will host Melbourne and Brisbane in Hobart after the next portion of the AFL fixture was released.

As revealed by the Mercury, the Roos will hub in Hobart while hosting games at Blundstone Arena — if the state’s borders are reopened.

A decision will be announced by Premier Peter Gutwein on Friday.

Hawthorn is also keen to get a piece of the action and is pushing for games in Launceston when the next stage of the fixture is released.

MELBOURNE and Brisbane will be North Melbourne’s first two Hobart opponents as Hawthorn looks to get a piece of the Tasmanian action.

The AFL has released the fixture for rounds 9 to 12 and – as revealed by the Mercury – it includes matches at Blundstone Arena, subject to Government approval.

Should the Tasmanian health authorities give the green light to reopen borders on Friday, the Roos will host the Demons in a Sunday night clash starting at 6.10pm on August 9, and then a clash with Chris Fagan’s Lions the following Saturday (August 15) from 2.35pm.

Just on Tuesday, the Premier Peter Gutwein denied the Mercury’s story that an agreement had been reached, but now Hobart and most likely Launceston as a Hawthorn hub will play a key part of keeping the season alive.

“We have been consistent in our desire to get matches in Tasmania,” AFL fixture boss Travis Auld said.

“Both the AFL and North Melbourne are heavily invested into footy in Hobart and we are very happy for the state and the city to host two matches at Blundstone Arena.

“I would like to thank Premier Gutwein and his team for making this happen.”

Should the borders be reopened, North Melbourne is likely to host more games in Hobart past those two already announced, while Hawthorn is open to playing more than its four contracted home games in Launceston and would ideally like to set up camp in Tasmania for the rest of the season.

The Hawks play Sydney at the SCG on Saturday before heading straight to Perth with Carlton for three weeks but are planning on then flying directly to Launceston to fulfil its four-game-a-season contract with the Tasmanian Government, Hawks chief executive Justin Reeves said.

“We haven’t got anything confirmed yet, but we are planning on going to Tassie hopefully straight from Perth,” Reeves said.

“Again, we haven’t had that confirmed but everyone is working towards three or four home games in Launceston.

“We are pretty keen to stay, we are keen to stay in Launceston as long as we can.

“We are certainly open to that (more than four games). We would be happy to stay there for the rest of the season in all honesty.”

The Hawks and the Roos receive a combined $8m from Tasmania for the eight games as part of the Government’s winter tourism strategy.

However, with the interstate tourism all but blocked, many Tasmanians are asking what is the economic benefits of hosting AFL games in the state?

Reeves said while payment for this season had not been discussed he said there was a big upside for Tasmania in hosting the Hawks.

“It would be very shortsighted if we just focused on this year,” he said.

“We have been there for 20 years, we are very proud of our contribution down there.

“We want to go and play games there because we think it would be really good for the Tasmanian people.

“It is our home away from home, we love going down there and we’d love to have a Tasmanian crowd down there.

“The tourism side, there is some light at the end of the tunnel for Tassie when we are all through this and we’d love to play a role in that.

“We need to continue that momentum because Tassie is so reliant on tourism in some ways and we need to be able to drive that and put it on the national stage by playing home games out of there wearing our Tasmanian branded gear, we are pretty keen to get that going.

“Certainly, the reason we are going down there is not to get the money, that is for sure.”

The Hawks hope to play in front of crowds of close to 10,000 should 50 per cent capacity be allowed at University of Tasmania Stadium.

He said if the Hawks were domiciled in Launceston for a block, they would be open to starting negotiations with the Tasmanian Government for another deal beyond the current 2021 contract.

“We’ve always had fiveyear deals and that would suit us but negotiations are negotiations,” he said.