‘We’d be crazy not to’: Saints would consider Tassie games

St Kilda would consider a proposal to play games in Tasmania if approached by the Tasmanian government, but the Saints have not actively pursued that possibility, their club president says.

St Kilda president Andrew Bassat said the Saints had not held any talks with either the Tasmanian government or the AFL about the possibility of playing games in Tasmania, but they would consider that prospect if “somebody knocked down the door” and offered that opportunity.

Bassat said the Saints had a game in Cairns this year and did not have the home game in China against Port Adelaide any longer (due to COVID-19 restrictions), but that they would be crazy not to consider an approach about Tasmanian “secondary market” games.

The Saints celebrate after their round eight win against Gold Coast. Credit:Getty Images

Hawthorn and North Melbourne’s deals expire at the end of this season, with Tasmanian premier Peter Gutwein saying that other clubs – outside of Hawthorn and North Melbourne – had “reached out” about playing home games in Tasmania, which provides a combined $8 million per annum to the Hawks and Kangaroos. Gutwein did not names the clubs.

“If there was a secondary market opportunity in Tasmania, we’d be crazy not to consider it,” said Bassat, who felt that the Saints erred in leaving Tasmania to Hawthorn and North Melbourne when they quit their arrangement back in the 2000s.

“There’s definitely some history with St Kilda and Tasmania. My personal view is that we made a mistake in questioning that opportunity all those years back. Hawthorn and North Melbourne were smarter than we were in taking it up.

“So if somebody knocked down our door and said, ‘Hey, this is an opportunity. Hawthorn and North Melbourne don’t want to get involved in something similar,’ of course we’d have to consider it.

“But we’ve done nothing concrete down that path.”

Bassat said the club had not had talks with the Tasmanian government or the AFL about Tasmanian games.

“No, certainly not. There’s been nothing. It’s not something we’re actively working on,” he said.

Bassat’s view was that the next fortnight of performance on the field would be influential in shaping the fixture – and the financial outlook this year – for the Saints, who play in their first Friday night game of 2021 this week against Geelong.

He said crowds at the football were “the great unknown” this year in a season still impacted by COVID-19, with the Saints having strong membership in 2021.

“I think if we perform well the next two weeks, we’ll get this floating fixture, we’re reasonably well-placed to get some decent games. If not, we’re not,” he said.

“I think a lot of things could go either way, depending on our on-field performance.

“There’s been a few changes, a few injuries. Our team structure is different to what it was last year, so we’ve had to adjust.”

Meanwhile, James Frawley, nephew of the club’s famed late skipper Danny Frawley and ex-Hawk and Demon defender, will make his debut for the Saints against Geelong. Seb Ross and Tom Highmore were the other inclusions to play the Cats, who will be without Sam Simpson due to injury.

The Saints dropped Darragh Joyce, Mason Wood and Nick Coffield from the team that overcame Gold Coast and lost Zak Jones long-term after a serious quad injury.

Most Viewed in Sport

From our partners

Source: Read Full Article