Peter Gutwein watches his son Finn’s football game with wife Amanda at the NTCA Sports Complex in Launceston.Credit:Sarah Rhodes
“It’s been 30 years,so I don’t mind waiting another week for a new premier to be installed,given this has bipartisan support,” Godfrey said.
“This is not about one person. It’s about the entire state and the justification for[a standalone AFL team],which is both economic and justifiable,so on that basis we just move forward.
“Peter[Gutwein] has been an advocate and will stay involved in some shape or form. In 30 years there has been a lot of downs[but] this is not a down,it’s just a stumble. But we will pick ourselves up and get in the game next week.”
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The Tasmanian AFL taskforce presented a business case to the league for a standalone team in Tasmania just before the pandemic hit in 2020 and the premier played a key role in reigniting the push when he threatened to stop committing funds to Hawthorn and North Melbourne for games played in the state unless the AFL assessed the bid properly.
Former AFL commissioner and Geelong president Colin Carterreviewed the business case and said it stood up. AFL CEO Gill McLachlan admitted in March the AFL was in a financially sound enough position to consider adding a standalone Tasmanian AFL team to the competition.