“TASMANIA” could appear on the AFLW ladder and a jumper if North secures a licence in August according to CEO Carl Dilena.
The club presented its proposal to the AFL on Thursday and said the name “North Melbourne Tassie Kangaroos” was part of the submission, subject to ongoing discussions with the Tasmanian government, along with a host of other significant state specific content.
“We certainly understand the significance of that,” Dilena told The Mercury.
“We’ve got to respect both parts, we’ve got to respect our existing club and history and also embrace Tasmania at the same time.”
Half of North's AFLW squad could be made up of Tassie female talent, and home shared between Melbourne, Hobart and Launceston.
The submission also included a special Tasmanian themed jumper for games in the state.
“What I’ve been talking about is a joint venture model,” he said.
“It is more of an expensive model when you’ve got two states involved.
“The way I look at it is predominantly funded by North Melbourne with support from the AFL and Government or relevant stakeholders in Tasmania just to round out the whole piece. We haven’t gone into detail on that but that’s what would make sense.”
Hawthorn has also pitched for a licence but it's said to be lacking in key areas. The Mercury reports: "it is believed that only includes to play some home games in Launceston and has not disclosed publicly if it will include Tasmanians as part of its playing squad".
In North's favour is a provisional licence - also something Hawthorn doesn't have.
“Ours [proposal] is a lot more holistic in terms of academies and development of talent pathways and half the squad coming from Tasmania, those sorts of concepts,” Mr Dilena said.
“They are very different pitches in that sense, I don’t think they are mutually exclusive but I think the bigger issue for the AFL is more about the clubs that have provisional licences.
“There is a bias towards the clubs that applied last time (for inaugural licences) and Hawthorn wasn’t one of those.”
The AFL will announce its decision on the AFLW expansion late next month.
