Gillon McLachlan confirms entry of Tasmanian teams into AFL and AFLW competitions

Visiting Tasmania today, AFL Chief Executive Gillon McLachlan has confirmed that a Hobart-based team will enter the AFL and AFLW competitions - although not until 2028.

McLachlan made the announcement alongside Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff and acting Prime Minister Richard Marles, acknowledging the years of lobbying and planning that had gone into the quest for a new team.

McLachlan told reporters at North Hobart Oval "I want to pay great credit to the resilience of the state government and passion of football people in this stage that have hung in. The building blocks are now substantial and this team is going to be a great success.”

AFL club Presidents yesterday morning unanimously backed the League's plan for a Tasmanian team, followed by the AFL Commission endorsing the vote later in the day.

With the 19th licence now granted, the AFL and Tasmanian Government will now select a chair and board of directors before working on details for a training and administration base in the coming months. A community campaign will be launched later in the year to select the name, logo, guernsey and song for the new club.

With the AFL men's team is expected to enter join the competition for the 2028 Toyota Premiership season, a state league side could be ready to play by as soon as 2025. Simultaneously, a timeline for the women's entry in the NAB AFLW competition is being assessed.

The five-year entry period is considerably longer than other recent expansion teams.

Gold Coast entered the AFL in 2011 after being officially granted the 17th licence in April 2009 and Greater Western Sydney was granted the 18th licence in 2010, two years before they entered the AFL.

McLachlan said the League has learned invaluable lessons from Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney's entrances into the AFL and is confident other clubs won't be disadvantaged too much by the inclusion of a new team.

He noted "I think we've learnt a lot about list builds and how we do that to ensure more immediate success, rather than longer-term success.

"We've got tools and free agency. We learnt a lot on how you do that with limited impact on the rest of the competition. In the end, in our heavily regulated and equalised game, you need the right people in the right slots making the right decisions.

"We will, reasonably quickly and with the support of the clubs, get a set of rules to put the squad together. It will be good decision-making after that.

"The drafts will be much less compromised than they have been in the past. Free agency will give us leverage to do that. There are more mechanisms now and more liquidity in the player market that we think we can use to have a competitive team from day one, with much less impact on the competition."

McLachlan went on to note that the 'Tassie Devils' is the name he would favour for the new team.

However, he noted that there may be “legalities” relating to that name.

Trademark clash over Tassie Devils team name?
The AFL potential planning to name its new team as the ‘Tassie Devils’ and ‘Tasmania Devils’ – which it has trademarked - could bring it into conflict with USA-based entertainment giant Warner Bros. which holds trademarks relating to its Tasmanian Devil cartoon character (also spelled Tazmanian Devil).

First created in the 1960s, when the Looney Tunes name was trademarked, the character was revived in the 1990s and attained widespread popularity.

With any use of a similar name by the AFL likely to result in legal action by Warner Bros., it would be expected that the League will come to an arrangement with the entertainment company

McLachlan has acknowledged this, but suggested issue they could be navigated.

He noted “devils seems to make sense to me.

“I know there are broad-minded people at Warner Bros. I imagine there will be a big push for that type of look.”

Images: Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff, AFL Chief Executive Gillon McLachlan and acting Prime Minister Richard Marles celebrate the new 19th AFL club licence in Tasmania with locals (top) and the trio at North Hobart Oval today (below). Credit: AFL Photos.