Switching off the tap of Tasmania
Tasmania finally getting its own team is brilliant for football. But it affects Hawthorn more than most.
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The announcement on Wednesday that Tasmania will receive the license to become the 19th AFL club is a red-letter day for the sport.
Tassie coming into the AFL is long overdue and corrects a longstanding historical wrong. The business of football is complicated, but one day in the future, historians will look at the events of this decade and last and question why Gold Coast and the west of Sydney were admitted to the competition before Tasmania.
But once the celebrations are done and dusted, those who view their football through a brown-and-gold lens will want to ask what it all means for Hawthorn.