No its one big reason why a state league hasnt worked and never will.The rivalry is not just between north and south there is the N/W as well.Is the North v south rivalry that you hear re Tas overstated?
Its why you have two teams NM and Hawks playing at opposite ends of the state.
The vast majority of people are in the south economically that is probably where the AFL team should be based but you can bet people will not travel the length and breadth to watch a game.
The state of the game has to come first and id say it is in a parlous state down there.to me State leagues have been a miserable failure and a real impost on not only the participating clubs but wrecked the fabric of the clubs who were left behind. A vfL side which has already failed miserably and only deleted the talent pool even further from the three zones and even a team in the afl should be secondary considerations with a long term approach involved.
They need to fix what has been broken go back to what worked and had the game flourishing up till the 80's.Imo if they dont then footy will die off.
Get the game back in schools get the three regional zones thriving and make the clubs strong and viable. When and only when this happens look into the possibility of a state team in the AFL but not before.