Eade, recruited to Hawthorn from Glenorchy and a member of Tasmania’s Team of the Century, has always been in favour of any Tasmanian push to enter the AFL competition.
On Friday the state took a step closer to realising the dream of one day entering a team in the AFL after the Tasmanian government met with League officials in Melbourne.
While the AFL plans to push on with its expansion into the Gold Coast and western Sydney markets, Eade said the League needed to be 100 per cent certain it made the right call when assessing which market to push – with a football-rich state ready and waiting while others might be less certain.
This week the Sydney Swans announced a significant loss for 2008 and with a proposed 18th license headed for Australia’s biggest city, Eade warned against any rash decision.
“I’m not too sure of the economics, obviously I’m not across all the facts and figures,” he said.
“Having been in Sydney, too, I mean there’s a lot of people out in the west but maybe in these economic times, it’s going to be difficult I suppose.
“But I imagine the AFL will look long and hard at it and hopefully make the right decision.”
As for his own state’s submission to join the AFL, the Bulldogs coach could not be more enthusiastic.
“It’s fantastic, I think it’s great,” Eade said following his team’s training session on Saturday.
“Obviously they’ve done very well, the Tasmanian Government, and the people involved have made a great submission apparently.
“Unfortunately I couldn’t get there yesterday [Friday] because we were training but it’d be great to see Tasmania [in the competition] certainly from a personal point of view. I think it’d be fantastic.
“I mean it’s a footy state, it’s a heartland of footy and they’re very passionate about their football. I think it’d be fantastic for the state but I think it’d be great for AFL footy, too, to have a team there.”
