TSL secured for another five years with extra club funding
After six weeks of negotiations between club presidents and the AFL, the Tasmanian State League (TSL) will officially remain until at least 2023.
Five of the seven TSL clubs have agreed in principle to tweaks to the competition that an AFL steering committee has made.
And while each club will have personalised KPIs focused on strategy, structure, community and people, the details of those benchmarks are yet to be finalised.
The Tasmanian State League name will be retained, with club funding from the AFL set to increase from $88,000 a year to $110,000.
As part of the in-principle agreement, AFL Tasmania will subsidize Launceston and North Launceston's travel costs and the Under-23 Mercury Cup competition will become an open age reserves league.
North Launceston and Glenorchy are yet to agree to the changes but are expected to sign off on them in the coming days.
There are no plans for the re-entry of Burnie or Devonport but while she wouldn't elaborate, AFL Tasmania CEO Trisha Squires said the north-west coast would receive a boost in resources.
"Burnie and Devonport haven't said they want to enter the competition," she said.
"They had meetings with Gill [McLachlan] when he visited the north-west, and there hasn't been an indication that would happen in the near future.
"AFL Tasmania is going to ensure that we do look after that region without a TSL club base there."
'Devil in the detail'
Squires was flanked by Clarence president Roger Viney, Tigers president Paul Gadomski and Lauderdale president Julie Kay at a press conference this morning.
All three were happy with the agreement.
"The most important thing is that the state league has been recognised as a tier-one competition by the AFL, rather than compared to a regional competition in Victoria," Kay said.
"There's devil in the detail though, and that's going to be sorted out."
Clarence president Roger Viney said it was important that the clubs' current licence agreements were honoured.
"Those licences are fundamental to our existence," he said.
"They're a very important document. And that's why they will remain in place, unchanged, for the next five years until we're ready to re-negotiate for the next 10 years."
The announcement comes prior to AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan's visit to the state, where he will present the recommendations made by the steering committee looking at the state of Tasmanian football.
The deadline for the recommendations is June 30 but an official announcement of what the findings are is yet to be scheduled.
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