List of Tasmanians in the AFL

[Matchu]

PBC is a freak of a school for sporting excellence. Was always rugby league and surfing, now AFL as well.

The amount of AFL players that have come out of PBC in the last three years is mind blowing.

 

[Engimal v3]

Hypothetical - would a Tasmanian team be given a development academy if they entered the AFL or would it be considered footy heartland and not necessarily need an academy like what they did to the Murray region of NSW a few years ago?

100% an academy. North already have one there.

 

[madmug]

100% an academy. North already have one there.

They do? Where?

 

[Jazny]

Harwood, Schade and Watts delisted. Garland retired. Lachie Weller is debatable.

28 at best based on that link.

Lachie isn't debatable. He didnt qualify for the Queensland academy draft concessions because he played too much junior football in Tasmania. He is from Tassie.

 

[Walshawk]

Adelaide Crows (1)
1. Hugh Greenwood - Lauderdale

Brisbane Lions (1)
2. Mitch Robinson - Lauderdale

Carlton (2)
3. Liam Jones - North Hobart
4. Andrew Phillips - Lauderdale

Collingwood (1)
5. Jeremy Howe - Hobart

Essendon (2)
6. Tom Bellchambers - North Launceston
7. Josh Green - Clarence

Fremantle (3)
8. Hugh Dixon - Kingborough
9. Brady Grey - Burnie
10. Alex Pearce - Devonport

Geelong (3)
11. Ryan Gardner - Burnie
12. Jake Kolodjashnij - Launceston
13. Jackson Thurlow - Launceston

Gold Coast (4)
14. Aaron Hall - Hobart
15. Kade Kolodjashnij - Launceston
16. Jesse Lonergan - Launceston
17. Mackenzie Willis - Kingborough

Greater Western Sydney (1)
18. Tim Mohr - Launceston

Hawthorn (1)
19. Grant Birchall - Devonport
20. Keiran Lovell - Kingborough

Melbourne (0)

North Melbourne (2)
21. Ben Brown - Devonport
22. Mitch Hibberd - Clarence

Port Adelaide (0)

Richmond (2)
23. Jack Riewoldt - Clarence
24. Toby Nankervis - North Launceston

St Kilda (3)
25. Jimmy Webster - Glenorchy
26. Maverick Weller - Burnie

Sydney (2)
27. Robbie Fox - Burnie

West Coast (0)

Western Bulldogs (0)

27 AFL players from Tasmania in 2018 - barely enough to field a best 22. Compare that number to Queensland (48) or New South Wales (61) and it's not hard to see Tasmanian footy is struggling.

We all know it is struggling. All the more reason to do so,etching about it. I thought there would be less. Player retention won’t be an issue if half the players are home grown.

 

[Snake_Baker]

Can Tasmania offer players after footy life opportunities in order to keep footballers and their experience in that state?

I think this point is just as relevant as anything else!

How many of them return?

Baldock, Tiger Crosswell, Darren Cresswell and who else?

I see Nick Riewoldt and Richardson piss and moan about the state of Tassie footy, but I don't see them moving back there and chopping the place out.

Why do Tasmanian footballers abandon Tasmania?

 

[kreglze]

Can Tasmania offer players after footy life opportunities in order to keep footballers and their experience in that state?

I think this point is just as relevant as anything else!

How many of them return?

Baldock, Tiger Crosswell, Darren Cresswell and who else?

I see Nick Riewoldt and Richardson piss and moan about the state of Tassie footy, but I don't see them moving back there and chopping the place out.

Why do Tasmanian footballers abandon Tasmania?

What happens with a lot of young people who are born in Tasmania, look for opportunities on the main land.

 

[Snake_Baker]

What happens with most young people who are born in Tasmania, look for opportunities on the main land.

BINGO!

They lose players because they can't support a team and they don't get them back because they can't support them with post career work.

Over time, the football of the state corrodes away.

This is not an AFL problem and it is another significant problem that Tasmania has to overcome.

 

[Jazny]

BINGO!

They lose players because they can't support a team and they don't get them back because they can't support them with post career work.

Over time, the football of the state corrodes away.

This is not an AFL problem and it is another significant problem that Tasmania has to overcome.

If AFL gave Tasmania a team it would be problem solved. A lot of people want to stay in Tasmania, its such an amazing place to live. But if the only opportunity is to move away, they will.

 

[TooBlue14]

BINGO!

They lose players because they can't support a team and they don't get them back because they can't support them with post career work.

Over time, the football of the state corrodes away.

This is not an AFL problem and it is another significant problem that Tasmania has to overcome.

I disagree. Plenty of oppprunities in Tasmania. I don’t know a single person from my childhood friendship group that has gone to mainland for opportunities. Why would we leave this place, it’s amazing and cheap, I own 2 houses in my 30s. Lol. I can eat all the smashed avo I like too.

 

[kreglze]

I disagree. Plenty of oppprunities in Tasmania. I don’t know a single person from my childhood friendship group that has gone to mainland for opportunities. Why would we leave this place, it’s amazing and cheap, I own 2 houses in my 30s. Lol. I can eat all the smashed avo I like too.

Ill give an opposing view for balance. Out of my family, majority of my cousins that were born and raised in Tasmania have left to live in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and overseas.

 

[Snake_Baker]

If AFL gave Tasmania a team it would be problem solved. A lot of people want to stay in Tasmania, its such an amazing place to live. But if the only opportunity is to move away, they will.

Are you seriously expecting people to believe that the AFL can fix the entire Tasmanian economy and job market?

 

[madmug]

Are you seriously expecting people to believe that the AFL can fix the entire Tasmanian economy and job market?

Certainly North Melbourne aren't going to help any. Thats a fact!

 

[DickieKnee]

Are you seriously expecting people to believe that the AFL can fix the entire Tasmanian economy and job market?

Tassies unemployment rate is lower than WA, SA, Victoria and Queensland.

Australian Capital Territory4.0
Northern Territory4.6
New South Wales5.1
Tasmania5.3
Victoria5.6
Western Australia5.7
South Australia6.0
Queensland6.1

 

[madmug]

Can Tasmania offer players after footy life opportunities in order to keep footballers and their experience in that state?

I think this point is just as relevant as anything else!

How many of them return?

Baldock, Tiger Crosswell, Darren Cresswell and who else?

I see Nick Riewoldt and Richardson piss and moan about the state of Tassie footy, but I don't see them moving back there and chopping the place out.

Why do Tasmanian footballers abandon Tasmania?

You should learn to Google at least. Your low brow hate seems to cloud your posting.

When many of them get drafted/recruited at around 18YO, they move to Melbourne, or wherever, have a footy career, get married, settle down. Move into other careers. Its called getting established.

This has happened a lot. The kids grow up so they stay their near wifes family around. Whats unusual about that? Their a a number of kids of Tassie recruits who make a footy career of their own but were born on the mainland. Nick Davis dad Craig went to Carlton, North & Collingwood & has worked in AFL/NSW for many years.

Once upon a time when we were allowed to recruit player/coaches to Tassie, the opposite happened. People such as Geelong premiership player John Devine came here to Coach at North Hobart FC. He ran pubs, had a stint in State Politics. Had a family. One son owns a pub, another is successful in real estate here.

John Bingley recruited from Tassie. Played in the Saints only premiership. Came back & coached Clarence to their first premiership in 1970.

Robert Groenewegen played for the bulldogs, came here to coach Glenorchy in 1988, still here works at managing Launceston's Utas Stadium.

Royce hart came back. Baldock came back. Hudson came back. However his son followed with a football career & into coaching so Huddo & his wife have ended up back in Melbourne with their Grand Kids.

The fact that Reiwoldt & Richardson say something is they know the opportunity they had in Tassie footy is getting less & less for the kids coming through as the clubs are struggling to function. Reiwoldt moved to Qld with the family. He didn't go back.

The choking of football opportunity has nearly curtailed the flow of players back here. Not so long ago people like Paul Hudson would've possibly have been recruited to coach here. With an AFL club here, opportunity would make it easy to stay here, raise a family etc. Look at the number of Tasmanians in the AFL coaching ranks. They cant do it here.

That doesn't suit you narrative though.

 

[nobbyiscool]

I disagree. Plenty of oppprunities in Tasmania. I don’t know a single person from my childhood friendship group that has gone to mainland for opportunities. Why would we leave this place, it’s amazing and cheap, I own 2 houses in my 30s. Lol. I can eat all the smashed avo I like too.

I don't think 1 persons experience really means much in this context, cos I suspect it has a lot to do with where you're based, what educational opportunities you had, and what you did immediately post school (ie. go to work in your home town after year 10 or, at the other extreme, relocate for university.)

Of the 10 or so people that I was friends with at 16 and am still in touch with now, only 2 of them are still in Tassie. The other 8 of us left for better employment opportunities (curiously, I'm the only one relatively nearby in Melbourne - the others are all in Sydney or Brisbane.)

I don't disagree with what you say - Tassie is amazing. Whilst I love the anonymity of Melbourne having grown up in Tassie, I still think I'd move back "home" if there was really an industry for my line of work.

 

[Rack Watts]

The pro-Tas mob don't like it when facts and figures are brought into discussions. They tend to get in the way of their 'arguments'.

I can totally understand why you wouldn't want a Tasmanian team. I mean; Richo, Royce Hart and Riewoldt, you'd miss out on cult heroes for the rest of time.

 

[Rack Watts]

I disagree. Plenty of oppprunities in Tasmania. I don’t know a single person from my childhood friendship group that has gone to mainland for opportunities. Why would we leave this place, it’s amazing and cheap, I own 2 houses in my 30s. Lol. I can eat all the smashed avo I like too.

Same, all that have left, have come back to raise families, whilst all these dickheaded Vics pay triple the price for a shitter lifestyle. They don't want us to have footy because then we would have the only thing they can hold over us.

 

[ExTasDeeMan]

Weird thread. Fwiw, i moved to Melbourne from Tas for work opps, but then moved to NYC for better work opps and lifestyle. If i ever move back, it will be to Tassie, not Melbs.

 

[Matchu]

Certainly North Melbourne aren't going to help any. Thats a fact!

I know it's still in its infancy but you'd think having an academy in Tasmania would mean North would have the highest number of Tasmanians on their list. However, Gold Coast lead the charge with four Tassie players, while Fremantle and Geelong also have more Tasmanians than North.

 

[Snake_Baker]

I know it's still in its infancy but you'd think having an academy in Tasmania would mean North would have the highest number of Tasmanians on their list. However, Gold Coast lead the charge with four Tassie players, while Fremantle and Geelong also have more Tasmanians than North.

Hang on mate.

Do you now when Norths Tassie academy started and the limits it has?

 

[Gibbke]

The pro-Tas mob don't like it when facts and figures are brought into discussions. They tend to get in the way of their 'arguments'.

The pro-Tas mob are pissed off when the figures are interpreted in only the negative way, and then used as the be-all and end-all of the discussion. There isn't, and never has been, definitive proof one way or the other of any positive or negative arguments. There is only the position (opinion) of the AFL, and the position from those who want the side. Both have their strengths and their rubberiness. Our position, however, does include the emotive and historical argument - I just wonder if anyone who only counts the beans even understands the nature and roots of the sport or even has a fulfilling life if they use this as their sole position on a Tasmanian team...

Like Churchill said in early WWII when parliament suggested cutting all funding to the arts to aid the war effort - "then wtf are we fighting for...?"...

And all of the above only accounts for the issue of a specific Tasmanian AFL side. The OP, which is a different subject ("wtf has happened in the last few decades") has its own numbers. And mainlanders are f###ing kidding themselves if they don't put their hands up and realise their role in the decline of Tasmanian footy - the most negative subject across our entire sport today...

Raise the funding down there to $10m pa (spare change when you make $2.1b from tv rights), and boost the salary caps of the state league sides to equal with the WA and SA leagues...then watch what happens...

 

[madmug]

I know it's still in its infancy but you'd think having an academy in Tasmania would mean North would have the highest number of Tasmanians on their list. However, Gold Coast lead the charge with four Tassie players, while Fremantle and Geelong also have more Tasmanians than North.

And again it begs the question, if more players are developed into the AFL system through some academy thing, what is the benefit to Tasmania? & to Tasmanian community sport? Especially if our club system has been so emaciated as it currently is. TSL clubs cannot compete against better funded VFL & especially NEAFL clubs.

NEAFL at least should be developing their own kids, not stripping Tasmania!!!!

Its the same old cabbage patch mentality we've suffered under both the VFL & now the AFL.

Thats a major factor in the draining of our TSL competition.

Its clearly up to our Politicians to make a difference. They haven't helped so far, but the community mood is changing.

 

[Snake_Baker]

Its clearly up to our Politicians to make a difference. They haven't helped so far, but the community mood is changing.

That's probably the best thing you have ever posted on the subject.

 

[HBF]

Step 1 has to be Tasmania getting their own team.
You can't tell me that the club the AFL set up on the Gold Coast is travelling better than if it had've been set up in TAS.
Sporting clubs simply do not work on the GC, as we have seen a number of times over different sporting codes.