Draft hopeful wants a Tassie team

Tasmania's top hopeful at this year's national draft - midfielder Mitch Robinson - believes the addition of a Tasmanian team to the AFL would lead to a rise in the number of players from the once great footy state making it into the big league.

Robinson, who is playing for Tasmania against Vic Country in the final round of matches in this year's under 18 championships at Telstra Dome on Wednesday, says it is getting increasingly harder for Tasmanian kids to get an opportunity to play in the AFL.

Last year the state which has produced some of the greatest players in the game's history such as Ian Stewart, Darrel Baldock, Peter Hudson, Alastair Lynch and current Richmond great Matthew Richardson had just one player taken in the national draft - Tom Collier, who was selected by Brisbane at pick 25.

This followed on from just four the previous year and is a far cry from the first national draft in 1986 when Tasmania produced seven of the first 20 picks, including the Febey twins Steven and Matthew at Melbourne.

There are less than 30 players from Tasmania currently playing in the AFL and apart from Richardson, Melbourne pair Russell Robertson and Brad Green and Hawthorn's Grant Birchall - most of these are young players barely known to the wider football public although the Demons' promising Tasmanian defender Colin Garland is the latest nominee for this year's AFL Rising Star award.

Robinson said if there was a Tasmanian team in the AFL it would lead to more children playing the sport in the Apple Isle, which in turn would see the state produce more quality players as it did in the past.

"It's every Tassie boy's dream to play for an AFL team representing the state," Robinson said while in Melbourne preparing for the final round of matches in this year's under 18 championships.

"There has been a lot of support from the public wanting an AFL team - it would bring a lot of youth up because it's something to go for and we have got good support from the Tassie public."

Robinson said the standard of football in Tasmania had dropped in recent years as reflected by the lack of players from the island state reaching the AFL.

"We only had one in the national draft last year and a couple in the rookies' (draft) but it would give a lot more kids something to strive for to play for an AFL team in Tasmania instead of going through the hard yards of trying to get noticed by the mainland recruiters."

Robinson's comments come as the Tasmanian Government has stepped up its bid to win the AFL's proposed 18th licence.

While the AFL remains committed to putting a team in western Sydney after it establishes the competition's 17th team on the Gold Coast - the Tasmanian Government is hopeful the league will change its mind once it realises how hard it is to set up a team in the heartland of rugby league compared to in a natural AFL state.

The Tasmanian Government - buoyed by tremendous public support both in Tasmania and in Victoria (where a recent newspaper poll showed 80 percent of footy fans were in favour of Tasmania joining the competition) - announced in Melbourne on Tuesday the appointment of the Gemba group to prepare its bid for an AFL licence.

Gemba, whose directors include former Essendon skipper James Hird, is highly regarded in AFL circles and is already involved with eight AFL clubs.

Tasmania already attracts the highest AFL crowds per capita in the nation for Hawthorn's four home games a year in Launceston with the Hawks enjoying more than 4000 members in Tasmania in the absence of a home-grown team.

Former Tasmanian premier Paul Lennon pointed out in April that a Tasmanian team would be able to draw on a larger potential supporter base than both Port Adelaide and Geelong and warned the league to ignore the state's claims to an AFL team at their peril.

"We believe it is a big ask for the AFL to establish a team in western Sydney, which is a bread-and-butter area for rugby league," he said at the time.

"Wouldn't it be better to put a team in a state which is a bread-and-butter area for the AFL?"