State league ‘needs NW side’
A WELL-respected football figure believes the addition of a North-West Coast team into the TSL and increased funding for the league and its clubs are a must if AFL Tasmania is serious about the continuation of the competition.
Leon Perry, former vicepresident and premiership player of East Devonport Football Club, called on AFL Tasmania to consider adding a North-West Coast club to the TSL to provide a more competitive balance and to create a truly state wide competition.
Perry’s comments came on the back of the recent preliminary findings of AFL Tasmania’s Football Futures Project, which through consultation with key stakeholders from across football aims to establish a structure to best serve local and community football
“There needs to be team from the North-West Coast to truly make it a statewide league,” Perry said.
“What team from the North-West that is, is for others to decide but it’s something that needs addressing. It may not be an existing club … maybe they decide a particular area has the population and the facilities to support a TSL side and they create a new club to join the competition but it needs to be looked into.”
Perry believes adding a new team from the North-West Coast would also provide more balance to the competition, noting the competitive advantage the two Northern clubs are afforded due to their ability to recruit not only from the North of the state but from the North-West as well.
While Perry is a big advocate for a new side in the competition, he noted it would only be possible if more funding was
provided to the TSL and its clubs to better compete with lower leagues for players.
“One major thing with adding a new side is the competition would have to be much more resourced and funded than it currently is or there’s no point even considering adding another side,” he said.
“Part of that extra resourcing is that the clubs need more funding so they can compete with other competitions for paying their players.
“To stop player leakage the TSL has to be more financially attractive to compete and if other competitions have a salary cap in place they have to police it otherwise don’t even have one.”
“It’s ludicrous that the best competition in the state is under pressure to compete with other comps on how much they can pay players.
“One club took five players from the NWFL that played in 2020 and signed them for 2021 and they didn’t go there because they liked the weather.”
“Also that’s not being critical of the players who move it’s just an imbalance the TSL has to deal with and address.”
The future of Tassie footy will become clearer later this month when further recommendations from the Footy Futures Project are released for community feedback before final decisions and implementation of those decision get underway in December.