The Examiner's Ben Hann, Josh Partridge and Hamish Geale upack and discuss sports news from across Northern Tasmania. Video by Aaron Smith and Paul Scambler (5/7/24)
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00:00Hello and welcome to another episode of The Press Box, episode 58. I'm Ben Hand. Joined
00:11with me is Hamish Gill and Josh Partridge. Once again, Brian and Rob are away for us
00:17this week, but still plenty to talk about nonetheless. We'll start off with the NTFA
00:22no less and their relationship with Damian Gill, head of AFL Tasmania. A bit's come out
00:29in the last few days in all sorts of manners. So we've got everything from the VFL, we've
00:35got funding structure going forward for the NTFA Premier League, we've got a potential
00:40salary cap for the women and lots more to come. But I'll start off with you, Josh. The
00:44VFL future, obviously a lot's been talked about it, when it's going to come in, what's
00:49going to be happening in the meantime. What did Damian tell you?
00:52Well, we'll just start off, Ben and I were lucky enough to sit down with Gillian, we
00:56chewed the fat for about half an hour and Ben reaped it and got a lot of stories and
01:01a lot of discussion points out of it. So I took the easier option and did the VFL yarn.
01:08So that was talking about what's going to happen next year when the VFL, VFL is coming
01:12in in 2026, the TSL is dissolving at the end of this year, what's happening next year?
01:17And he was very, he didn't really, I wasn't really able to tell us much because they've
01:23got a few announcements coming, but he was very pleased with what they think they've
01:27put together. He described it as very fulfilling for the players that are going to stay in
01:32Tassie as opposed to leave and go elsewhere. Like, it's been happening for years, it's
01:38not anything different to see players leave Tassie in an attempt for high performance,
01:42but it seems to be a lot more prevalent at the moment, I guess.
01:45What do you think should happen or what do you hope happens next year?
01:49Well, what I think should happen is the state league should continue, but that's obviously
01:53not up to me or up to anyone here in the north by the sounds of things. But what, I don't
02:01really know what needs to happen because it's such a unique and sticky situation that we've
02:07both been put in and we've both put ourselves in in terms of footy here in Tasmania. So
02:12I think you just need, as Gilly said, they just need to give the high performance kids
02:18and just talent something that they're willing to buy into and willing to do it. Whether
02:23that's rep footy again, I think the appetite for rep footy in Tassie is really strong and
02:29I think, as Gilly said, the buy-in that they get from those players is fantastic.
02:33How's Benigra success?
02:34I know part of it was that talk, just kind of swirling around about our Tassie VFL team,
02:42like actually being based here out of Monty. Is that still on the cards? Have we heard
02:46anything about that or is it kind of more likely?
02:50We haven't really heard a whole heap, but I'd imagine with the training facility expected
02:55to be built in down south, it hasn't been confirmed yet, thanks to concerned residents
03:00of some municipalities. But no, I'd assume it'll be fully based, especially with that
03:08now year delay, I would assume it would be based in Hobart.
03:11Yeah, I think, and it'll be like the AFL team, I don't think they'll be diverse to bring
03:15it up into the north every so often. I suppose we'll move right along, we've got so much
03:20to get through, but another thing he obviously discussed when we were with him was obviously
03:26the move away from the TSL and the move towards this regional model has caused some division,
03:34I don't think it's unfair to say, between people who agree with the idea and people
03:37who don't agree with the idea. It's changed northern footy more than any other region.
03:42Obviously we've had a lot of discussions about north Launceston and Launceston and how they're
03:46unhappy and even some NTFA clubs being unhappy with how it's all turned out. But Gilly really
03:52wanted to point out that none of this, what they're doing, they're trying to sabotage
03:57the northern footy in any way. Their hope is that people won't leave just because it's
04:04Launceston or it's Hobart. They want to have, the phrase is, three strong regions. They
04:10want to have three Premier Leagues. So they want the Premier League, I suppose, of the
04:15north to be considered the same as the Premier League in the south, or the NWFL, I suppose,
04:21it will remain. Whether that's in actuality going to happen is another question, but I
04:26think AFL Tasmania are going to do a lot of work to make sure it's as strong as competition
04:33as it potentially can be. And hopefully, or they certainly hope anyway, that people
04:38will get behind it.
04:39And I think that then led on well to your next story that you did, which was about the
04:43funding structure. And basically looking at where the money that was guaranteed for grassroots
04:50footy once Tasmania got an AFL team, where that money may go. Damien was very, there
04:58was a bit of rumours and a bit of chat going around that it'll only go to the top six clubs
05:03Damien was very quick to point that out that that wasn't correct, and that it's going to
05:08the to the competition as a whole. So Ben, I just want to get your thoughts on I guess,
05:15where or not necessarily where that's going. But I suppose what that story was and how
05:19that went.
05:20Yes, obviously, it's a bit of a sticky situation. There was a meeting between NTFA presidents
05:25and AFL Tasmania over how next year is going to look. That also includes various other
05:30things, which we'll get to. But one thing that was brought up was some presidents were
05:36under the impression that the initial money that was promised to go to grassroots football
05:44to come along with the AFL deal was only going to the six Premier League clubs or the
05:49Premier League, therefore the six Premier League clubs. So that's where I suppose the
05:53frustration and the disagreement has been. Damien's very strident on no, that's not the
06:01case. We support these clubs really well. But we're also not about giving any of these
06:05clubs handouts that they will rely upon for their existence.
06:09And just to interrupt you there, I really liked him saying that. I think him saying,
06:13look, we don't want to financially prop up these clubs. Sure, we want to help them. But
06:17we don't want this money that we're trying to give them to be their, not sole income,
06:21but their main source. I really enjoyed, not enjoyed, but I really liked him saying that.
06:26Yeah, I think I agree on that front. And he is very, you know, unashamedly is the word
06:32he used. We're investing in development and junior sport and junior footy. We're making
06:37sure as many kids as possible are playing footy. So that might come at the expense of
06:41helping, you know, an NTFA club with, you know, a new change rooms. But for him, that's
06:47not where the priorities are for AFL Tasmania. And I think that's probably where the, you
06:53know, where the frustration is being, because I think there's maybe at least from the initial
06:57statements, the initial words that were coming out from the AFL Tas deal was that this was
07:02money for all when maybe, maybe it is. But it does not appear that it's going to be just,
07:09you know, you have a, you have 20 grand, you have 20 grand, you have 20 grand sort of thing
07:13like that. We will go quickly. We have obviously got a lot to get through, but quickly touch
07:21on the NTFA W salary cap. There's also another thing that came out of there. Women are not
07:26allowed to get paid currently in their current structure is in front of the player payments
07:30board, which is a statewide board where the women can get paid to play. It's obviously
07:35very slippery slope. Once again, Gilly is actually against paying players as a whole,
07:41not just women, men, he thinks it creates an arms race and it takes money away from,
07:48you know, actual, actually where the money needs to go to for clubs. Clubs are asking
07:52for handouts, but they're also paying a player three grand a week to play. Why are you doing
07:56that? That money should be going to your club. But we might have to just gloss over that
08:02because we've got so much to get through. I want to ask you Ham, in light of Brocklin
08:07Longford's recent, I suppose, last ever game, at least for foreseeable future. You know,
08:14when you covered sport, what was so great about sort of country footy rivalries and
08:18what makes them such a special day? Yeah, I think it's the, that you've got two really
08:23kind of passionate like towns coming together to a country footy ground. You've got like
08:29cars kind of parked all around the outside of the ground. There's horns going, there's
08:34like people yelling, you know, there's just a great atmosphere. And so I think, I think
08:40in some ways it'll be like sad to not have those two specific teams kind of lining up
08:46against each other. Maybe there's an opportunity for, I'm sure like a preseason hit out or
08:50something, but yeah, two really, I guess like proud like clubs. And yeah, hopefully, hopefully
08:59the pay can still come together in the future. But I think as we were kind of saying earlier,
09:06the tension of, oh, I suppose I'm Longford into the Premier League,
09:10we'll sort out the problem of having two tigers in the one competition.
09:15It's always a positive, isn't it? Yeah, there is always a positive to these things.
09:21Oh, I love how you put that. I just, I love how you can always get the positives out of things.
09:25Sometimes it's got to work out.
09:29We'll have a bit of a change in gear here from obviously local footy to the international stage.
09:34The Olympics are coming up late next month. Josh, we've got now six and potentially seven
09:40Tasmanians that are competing in the Olympics. I'll quickly reel off the names and I suppose
09:45you tell us a bit about some of them. So we've got Eddie Ockenden and Josh Belts
09:50competing for the Kookaburras while Matty Brooks is traveling reserve for the Hockey Roos. We've
09:53got Sarah Hoare in the rowing. We've got Ariane Titmuss and Max Giuliani in the swimming,
09:58and we've got Georgia Baker in the cycling. Obviously a really good list so far, I suppose.
10:03How great it's been for those seven people so far?
10:05Yeah, I'll touch on the hockey side of things. I suppose Eddie, it's phenomenal. First ever
10:11hockey player for Australia to go to five Olympics. Like that's phenomenal. I remember
10:15growing up watching him in Beijing and going, this kid's unreal. And now I'm 25
10:21and still watching him at Olympics. It's phenomenal. And I suppose with Matty, although
10:27at the moment only a traveling reserve, it's the first Tasmanian that we've had in the women's side
10:31for 16 years. So that's a testament to her and I guess how quickly she's come through the ranks.
10:38I suppose she's only quite young herself. I suppose there would have been a time where
10:42she wouldn't have even thought about going to these Olympics. It would have been the ones
10:45going forward, but she's come through the ranks fantastically and it's a testament to her.
10:51Yeah, I suppose I'll touch on Georgia Baker in a second, but I suppose for you,
10:55the whole world knows about Ariane Titmuss. How good would it be to back up that performance at
11:00Tokyo and really show the world that that performance wasn't a fluke?
11:06Yeah, well, I think everything that she's done so far has just been outstanding. All of Australia
11:13really got left behind at the previous Olympics. So I suppose, I don't know if that's going to
11:21bring in maybe a different kind of pressure this time around to try and back it up. But I think
11:27I'm certainly, Ariane will be kind of seeing that as a challenge, like, well, let's go and do it
11:33again. Like I got this, like, yeah. Yeah, she doesn't need to look far for motivation. She's
11:36got the next best swimmer in the world, Molly O'Callaghan, with her at all times. They share
11:41the same coach. They swim out of the same center. So it's not like she's having to look over the
11:46other side of the world to get this motivation of people chasing.
11:50Exactly. And then we've got Katie Ledecky, who probably wasn't thrilled with how her last time
11:54went around. But I'll just finish off with Georgia Baker, obviously the Perth cyclist,
11:58reaching her third Olympics. I believe it's her third Olympics. She's had really awful luck in the
12:03previous two Olympics. She's clearly a great cyclist. She's won all sorts of national
12:09championships, Commonwealth Games, gold medals. She's such a proven athlete. But you just really
12:15hope this time around, the luck falls her way. She's on the track. Australia's obviously got
12:19such a great history with track cycling. And you can only wish her the best. And it's really a
12:24great achievement for her. I reckon that's all we have time for, for this episode of The Press
12:29Box. Thanks for catching us this week. We'll see you for the next one.
12:39Transcribed by https://otter.ai