A government bereft of good ideas and foresight. It used to be Gunns fleecing the State of money and resources, now it’s the Salmon Farms and the AFL.

41 minutes ago, Roost it far said:

A government bereft of good ideas and foresight. It used to be Gunns fleecing the State of money and resources, now it’s the Salmon Farms and the AFL.

I agree with your point on Gunns and Salmon farming, but think a well executed multi-event indoor stadium in the heart of Hobart could be a boon for Tasmania if managed well. Like MONA already is… they need tourism, and to try and reduce the ongoing exodus of talent.

45 minutes ago, PaulR said:

I agree with your point on Gunns and Salmon farming, but think a well executed multi-event indoor stadium in the heart of Hobart could be a boon for Tasmania if managed well. Like MONA already is… they need tourism, and to try and reduce the ongoing exodus of talent.

Over a billion dollars for a 23,000 seat stadium is a nonsense imo. I do lean heavily away from big d**k projects as almost always there’s a smarter, cheaper and better way to do these things. From toll roads, to tunnels to stadiums rarely are the public not getting rolled for corporate profits.

39 minutes ago, Roost it far said:

Over a billion dollars for a 23,000 seat stadium is a nonsense imo. I do lean heavily away from big d**k projects as almost always there’s a smarter, cheaper and better way to do these things. From toll roads, to tunnels to stadiums rarely are the public not getting rolled for corporate profits.

You're not wrong but the cost to build a green rating-building is astronomical. But that's the societal expectation these days. And cost expectations are relative. The LA Clippers stadium cost 2 billion USD and it seats 18k. But it's the best fan experience in the country, probably in the world. So relative to construction costs for a modern stadium in Australia in 2025, 1 billion is actually reasonable... but that comes with an expectation of an exceptional fan and public experience.

Marvel cost $850 million in 2024 dollars. And the stadium is pretty average. Excluding additional costs to upgrade and still the fan experience isn't great. The cost to build in Australia is just too high to get true value for money unless you go above and beyond.

Edited yesterday at 02:121 day by praha

To make this even have a chance of stacking up visiting fans will need to be encouraged to stay a week and spend accordingly.

Hobart is a beautiful town and has some stunning day trips.

My issue has always been planes. To get only 5k fans from the mainland you need 25 empty flights there and another 25 back. Those flights simply do not exist and airlines have no spare capacity these days.

Perhaps the AFL could buy a cruise ship or two.

This 19 team fixture is going to be a night mare. As far as I can see the result will be 5 teams instead 4 at the bottom of the ladder who have no hope of playing finals. It also means another 40 players who are not good enough at present will suddenly become first tier quality. There are going to be some poor quality games.

4 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

To make this even have a chance of stacking up visiting fans will need to be encouraged to stay a week and spend accordingly.

Hobart is a beautiful town and has some stunning day trips.

My issue has always been planes. To get only 5k fans from the mainland you need 25 empty flights there and another 25 back. Those flights simply do not exist and airlines have no spare capacity these days.

Perhaps the AFL could buy a cruise ship or two.

DJ this ground could easily become the next Geelong stadium numbers wise. There could be only a couple thousand seats left for visitors. Then you only need half a dozen planes.

7 hours ago, daisycutter said:

i hope they ditch the map of tassie with the big T on their guernsey. it looks awful and doesn't work

No, it is magnificent. Should only be worn once a year though.

7 hours ago, daisycutter said:

i hope they ditch the map of tassie with the big T on their guernsey. it looks awful and doesn't work

Looks like a really bad Xmas like thing....lol

Just need to.use the colours better.... can't be that hard...

even for the AwFuL

The guernsey is their state one with a devils logo slapped on it. It should be kept for state games only. I like the colours a lot and just hope they go with a traditional look and not put some big ugly logo or monogram across the chest.

59 minutes ago, old dee said:

It also means another 40 players who are not good enough at present will suddenly become first tier quality. There are going to be some poor quality games.

It's only two players per team on average, which I don't think will make much of a difference at all.

There are AFL quality players out there deserving of a spot but clubs are restricted by list sizes.

22 hours ago, monoccular said:

I wonder if relocation has seriously been considered, unthinkable as that may be.

They (Norf) do already play there and have a presence

AFL playing a long game?

Now amalgamation will become a more arguable option, replacing - or at least improving on - relocation. Particularly if (when) Tassie becomes an attractive, Geelong-like powerhouse from AFL largesse and persistence and Tasmanian passion.

the afl will want to grow, not shrink

they definitely won't want to reduce teams heading into future broadcast rights in 2032 and beyond

if there's not an announcement of a new team coming in by then i'll be surprised

a 19th team doesn't 'grow the pie' as the suits like to say

1 hour ago, whatwhat say what said:

the afl will want to grow, not shrink

they definitely won't want to reduce teams heading into future broadcast rights in 2032 and beyond

if there's not an announcement of a new team coming in by then i'll be surprised

a 19th team doesn't 'grow the pie' as the suits like to say

Fair point.

Though why, then, has the AFL made it so (apparently) difficult (= expensive) for the 19th team to enter? And they've set a pretty high financial bar, for themselves and for all the funding parties, for the 20th.

3 hours ago, old dee said:

This 19 team fixture is going to be a night mare. As far as I can see the result will be 5 teams instead 4 at the bottom of the ladder who have no hope of playing finals. It also means another 40 players who are not good enough at present will suddenly become first tier quality. There are going to be some poor quality games.

And of course these same bottom teams will get the raw end of the pineapple with respect to the timing of the byes.

Who wants a bye round 1,2,3 or 4 or the last round? Certainly not Collingwood, Carlton, Geelong, Richmond. In fact not anyone, but we know all about AFL integrity and fairness

13 minutes ago, Timothy Reddan-A'Blew said:

Fair point.

Though why, then, has the AFL made it so (apparently) difficult (= expensive) for the 19th team to enter? And they've set a pretty high financial bar, for themselves and for all the funding parties, for the 20th.

cos MONEY

if someone is so desperate to join yr club that they're prepared to spend a small fortune of money to do so, who wouldn't say no?

4 hours ago, Rab D Nesbitt said:

The guernsey is their state one with a devils logo slapped on it. It should be kept for state games only. I like the colours a lot and just hope they go with a traditional look and not put some big ugly logo or monogram across the chest.

The colours are the traditional Tasmanian sporting colours so its really the only option.

I thought I read somehere the map with the 'T' guernsey will only be used as a promotional guernsey in the formation years prior to actually starting to play and might be adopted for say a heritage round.

Hopefully no tacky oversized logo is adopted and let us be honest, only one team can don a monogram with class and distinction 😁

8 hours ago, No. 31 said:

Hopefully no tacky oversized logo is adopted and let us be honest, only one team can don a monogram with class and distinction 😁

The Brisbane Bears?

I see that the price of the new stadium is now $1.13Billion and that's before a sod is turned.

My guess is $1.75B if not more by the time it's finished. Schedule wise I'm backing a minimum 50% over run with a few contractors going broke.

Have a look at the price and Union deals that were done to get the Perth stadium and the MCG Northern Stand built if you want some precedents. It will also be built in the same window as Brisbane builds its Olympic games infrastructure.

What was the original estimate... a couple of hundred million if I recall funded by all those offsets

20 hours ago, Roost it far said:

Over a billion dollars for a 23,000 seat stadium is a nonsense imo. I do lean heavily away from big d**k projects as almost always there’s a smarter, cheaper and better way to do these things. From toll roads, to tunnels to stadiums rarely are the public not getting rolled for corporate profits.

Kind of the way I think about it to be honest.

Only a few months ago the TAS planning commission recommended it shouldn't go ahead citing the proposes stadium being too big for the site, access etc. Costs have already more than doubled in a two year period and the state is struggling as it is, the taxpayer will likely be paying it off for decades. Yes, the benefit could be astronomical. In my view it will be a very challenging project, not impossible but far from straightforward.

I'm pro Tassie Devils for sure but I do get tired of hearing people banging on about this as if it's a no brainer for long term success. This is a high scale project with high risk attached to it. The stadium and many other key elements need to fall into place for this to be a commercial and community success, this is not a concept ready to take off once they plonk a big stadium in the Hobart precinct.

I wish the TAS government and Jeremy Rockliff the very it enough to stick their necks on the block. There is a very long way to go though.

Edited 10 hours ago10 hr by layzie

15 hours ago, Demonstone said:

It's only two players per team on average, which I don't think will make much of a difference at all.

There are AFL quality players out there deserving of a spot but clubs are restricted by list sizes.

If it was that easy then there wouldn’t be teams in trouble now.

16 hours ago, old dee said:

This 19 team fixture is going to be a night mare. As far as I can see the result will be 5 teams instead 4 at the bottom of the ladder who have no hope of playing finals. It also means another 40 players who are not good enough at present will suddenly become first tier quality. There are going to be some poor quality games.

I’ve been banging on about this from day one, I’m all for a team in Tassie but the competition must be capped at 18 teams for the foreseeable future. The AFLW are over 100 years behind the men’s competition in terms of existence and they expanded way too quickly and had become a joke in many ways. They should have stayed a one team in each of WA, SA, NSW, QLD and four in Melbourne for at least until the standard was at a high level across all clubs. The current administration can’t help them with Wildcard weekend, constant rule changes yet we can’t get the basics right, full time accountable umpires and a fair tribunal.

On 03/12/2025 at 19:38, old dee said:

For many years I went down to Tassie for work and I got to know the Aussie rules situation. The divide between the North and South is the classic “them and Us”. Back in the early eighties they tried to have a play off between the North and South Premiers. First problem was neither league would agree to hold the meeting in the others area. South would not go north and vice versa. A couple of years later they meet at midlands, as the name suggests it is approx half between the North and south. It still didn’t achieve the desired result . One item which I believe neither league would agree to was where would they play the first game. Now a lot of water has flown under the bridge since then but there would still an element of that now. I had customers in the North that had never been to Hobart. Why go there would rather fly to Melbourne! It’s a strange place. I have an affection for it, it’s one of the best holiday destinations in Australia. In a lot of ways it reminds me of England.

That's cos they got a lot of mad Scots living there.

Good for football. Not so good for us having to do a rebuild during a compromised draft.