Is anyone else worried?

[Drake Huggins]

What intrigues me is the depth of response to what happened on Friday. It's as though most of us had kept a lid on our frustrations and fears, until the pressure cooker exploded. It wasn't anywhere near the worst loss in our history, even if the manner was poor. Remember the first three rounds of 1985?

No, what has lit the fire is that all the denial, blue skying and cliches about loyalty were blown away by the stark revelation of our worst fears. We've been driving the bus towards the cliff for years, ever since that idiot Nettlefold lost RL. After the best part of the decade of clawing back respect from the competition, we're back to square one, where we were after the Timid, Blight fiasco . No closer to a premiership and back to the bottom of the hill, like a red, white and black Sisyphus.

We're safe for now, but if we enter another period of sackings, rebuilds, board coups etc. I think the patience of those at the Death Star will be stretched to breaking. A partial relocation is a distinct possibility, if we fall apart completely. I'm more worried than ever. I've seen this scenario too many times. Swamp fox to Jezza to Jewell to Gellie to Doc to Bomba to Stan to Timid to Blight to GT to RL to The burning dwarf to TMBK. 13 coaches in 38 years, tin rattling campaigns, scheme of arrangement move away from Moorabbin to Seaford only to return. If we weren't worried, we should be now.

I’m pretty “blue-sky” in general, but the conspiracy theorist in me does get a little worried about the significant role our very own Saint Nick is playing in driving the tassie conversation.
Could he be a spoonful of medicine to help make a switch to Tasmania more palatable to saints followers???... nah I felt silly just typing that out!

It's not silly at all. There'll be no more licences and Gilligan has been shocked into action by the dire situation in Tasmanian football. The pressure to give them their own team is mounting. Nick would be the perfect face of the campaign. It won't happen soon, but when the music does eventually stop, we better have a chair to sit on.

[The Real Numpty]

Here's a sobering thought for you.




North have more money than us.

Do not discount the Tasmania thinking. With the leagues down there struggling to hang onto players and lack of Tasmanian talent coming through the draft, the AFL are at risk of losing what was once an aussie rules heartland. Now with that bulltish out of the way.....

They will most likely want to have a team in Tasmania within the next ten years. Gold Coast is not going anywhere and GWS is the real money sink. Relocating a struggling existing team will be the easy way to do it.

If we keep driving our debt like we are.... At some point they will pull the pin with their support and we will be in a similar position to Fitzroy. At that point the AFL will have their way with us.

The Launceston Saints has a nice ring to it.

Especially if it comes with a bunch of salary cap concessions and draft picks. Plus the actual blatant AFL premiership push like we are seeing with GWS flat out.

Honestly we should have done it fifteen years ago. As much as I would have hated it. Our future would have been guaranteed.

Bigred I have been very impressed by your great work, your very great work. For your football club and for your nation, right here on this site, believe me. But talk of going south!!! Over the border!!! That is too much, believe me!!! I will call in the army till I can build a great and magnificent wall, before I allow that to happen!!! As my very great friends Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin said to me just the other day. It was Monday I think it was. They said, both of them in unism, can you believe that? They said, the both of them, "You can put a St Kilda jumper on a Mexican, but he is still a raping Mexican Marxist. Exclamation mark!!!" #goingsouthgratesbelieveme

[degruch]

I don't reckon the sums add up for Tassie, not even for their own home grown stand-alone team, otherwise it would have been done by now.

[congorozides]

I don't reckon the sums add up for Tassie, not even for their own home grown stand-alone team, otherwise it would have been done by now.

I agree.

But the Saints (and Suns and GWS) are losing money anyway.

So the decision isnt just about the sums stacking up.

I can see it now. Riewoldt, Webster Weller. The Darrel Baldock Stadium. David Grant as President.