President Jeff Kennett has penned the following letter to Hawthorn members... 

Morning all.

Well we are still in the hunt to be playing footy in the month of September, but one game at a time.

That said, if we can replicate the second half of last week’s game across a consistent four quarters of football it will be exciting!

Read: Hawks growing more dangerous

Sadly last week’s win was tainted by the injury to Ben McEvoy. He is recuperating after his surgery, but the club will run no risks with his return to full recovery. As we all know, football is at times a brutal game, and serious injuries often occur. We wish Ben a speedy recovery.

I saw our VFL team storm to victory at Etihad Stadium before our clash with the Dogs on Saturday night. Congratulations to the team on a convincing win. The Box Hill Hawks now sit in 5th position on the VFL ladder with the challenge ahead of them to make finals. But they are well and truly in the race.

I followed up a Saturday full of football with a Sunday spent watching our VFLW team play against Williamstown.  It was a tough game with the lead changing several times after Williamstown got off to a flying start in the first quarter, with four goals to our one.

But our girls never gave up, and in an exciting finish came from behind in the last minute and a half to win by four points.

Our VFLW team now sit in second position on the ladder and are fit and firing. I do encourage any members who can, to come and watch our VFLW team. It is a fun outing, they are carrying our colours proudly and they deserve our voices in support.

Our VFLW team has two more home games at the Box Hill ground. The first being Sunday August 12 at 2pm against Western Bulldogs, the 2018 AFLW premiers. The second is against our good friends Geelong on Saturday August 25 at 11.30am. I hope many of you can make the effort to join us at both or either game. I know our girls will appreciate the support.

There has been a crass intervention in the Tasmanian discussion over fielding their own team in the AFL.

Crass, because Bill Shorten has said if the Labor Party win the next federal election they will commit $25m towards the establishment of an AFL team if the AFL are to licence a team in Tassie.

It is the first time I can remember a Federal political party attempting to win votes by getting directly involved in the administration of sport at a club level.

In doing so, Bill has set a precedent for every other code of sport, for every other club. Such foolishness will come back and bite him on the backside if he does win the next federal election.

But consider the foolishness of his offer.

A Tasmanian team would make the number of clubs in the competition 19. That is just not feasible for scheduling or to attract sufficient players of high enough standard to be competitive.

For there to be a Tasmanian team, it will mean one current AFL team will have to re-locate permanently to Tasmania, one will have to drop out of the competition, or two existing clubs will have to merge.

Speaking on behalf of Hawthorn, there is no way we will merge with another club. We tried that once and will never again, nor will we drop out of the competition. I also don’t think we would ever re-locate in full to Tassie, as much as we love playing there.

Bill Shorten’s comments were nonspecific as to how the $25m would be spent, and over what time.

He did say the money would be split across “grassroots footy,” to improve facilities and grounds.

So, what is actually left to support a fully blown stand alone Tasmanian AFL team?  Next to nothing.

You could field a Tasmanian AFL team for approximately $30m a year at a bare minimum. To be competitive it would need the AFL to direct most of the top draft picks towards the Tasmanian team, as they did for GWS.

But draft picks are young lads who often need up to five years to develop and hone their skills. This in turn runs the risk of the Tasmanian team being non-competitive for a number of years. Even that might be acceptable if the team could be sustained throughout that period.

So where would the $30m come from as the barest minimum to support an AFL team?

The AFL provides just over $10m to each team to fund the majority of the player payments each year. The soft cap for the football department of each club is approximately $10m a year, that the clubs have to raise. Let’s assume the Tasmanian Government end their contracts with Hawthorn and North Melbourne in 4 years’ time, add a few more million to the monies they are currently paying those clubs, making it say $10m a year, that would leave the Tasmanian club finding another $10m a year just to reach the absolute minimum amount required to field a non-competitive team.

Would the AFL provide that money?

Don’t get me wrong. I am not against a Tasmanian team, but I want it to be viable. I do not want it to start and then collapse for any one of many reasons.

The average operating cost of the 18 teams in the AFL today is $45m. That is a long way from the minimum I have suggested here. Another $15m every year.

There is one other factor I would like those advocating for a Tasmanian team to consider. And I am only speaking from a Hawthorn perspective, I cannot speak for North Melbourne.

Hawthorn has been in Tasmania for the best part of 18 years. We have been building our relationship with the Tasmanian community for years. That is evidenced by the number of Tasmanian members we have.

But as important is the impact on Tasmania’s economy in both the north and south. Not only do thousands of our mainland members travel to Tassie every game, but increasingly they are staying for two or three days and longer. Many are now taking family holidays in Tassie, away from the games, as are our corporates.

Independent research released earlier this year stated Hawthorn’s presence in Tasmania brings in $30m a year in economic activity and that’s before you consider the promotion of Tasmania we deliver that attracts others to the island state.

If Tasmania has its own team, much of that economic value will disappear. Tasmanians will of course attend their home games, but as we see the AFL will rarely allow the bigger teams to play in Tasmania because it will substantially reduce their attendances at games overall. That fact and television ratings is what drives the value of media rights.

So, I fear a Tasmanian team, regardless of how it performs will negatively affect the hospitality and tourism industry in Tasmania.

All that said, no political party in Government has had the courage to be specific about what it wants. They should do so. I laugh at the Labor party that is now advocating a Tasmanian team, when in Government under David Bartlett or Lara Giddings they had the opportunity to do something and they did nothing.

Jim Bacon and Paul Lennon, were a lot more realistic and honest with their community. They opted for the current model.

One thing I am sure of, given our considerable efforts over many years, and my continued promotion of Tasmania, is if Hawthorn is not wanted in Tasmania, just tell us and we will go back to the mainland.

The best Tasmanians can do is embrace the model released by the AFL last month, and use it as an opportunity to build the case for their own AFL team someday.

For now, we are preparing to contest our next game in Launceston on Saturday 

Go Hawks.

Jeff Kennett