With more people going to the footy, huge television audiences and record numbers signing up as members it makes sense that the powers that be want to continue to build on that momentum.
As we all know, the AFL's plans revolve around creating 17th and 18th teams in the quickly developing areas of the Gold Coast and western Sydney.
But as someone with pretty close ties to the southern state, what about Tassie?
I've seen first-hand the passion the locals have for the game so I reckon I can comment about how much footy means to our friends from the Apple Isle.
The place has become a home away from home for all of us Hawthorn boys, especially when you consider how much time we spend down there each year.
Thinking about it the other day I realised that, on average, a senior Hawthorn player can spend as much as a month a year in Tassie.
That's taking into account training camps, community camps, one pre-season game and four home and away games every year.
I believe we have done enough Auskick clinics and school and hospital visits to appreciate the grassroots support the game has in Tassie.
Our after-match functions are also consistently filled with the loudest voices and the most people of anywhere we play. It's clear that people of all ages have a real passion for the game.
We've now got around 4000 members based in Tassie, which is roughly 10 per cent of our membership base. For a state with a population of around half a million people, that's a fair strike rate for one club.
If you consider that there'd be thousands of fans who love their footy but aren't passionate enough about Hawthorn to buy a membership ticket, you begin to appreciate that there might be enough support for a stand-alone Tassie team.
A selfish part of me would like to think that Tasmanians will have to wait at least a while yet to get their own team.
We've forged a great relationship with the people of Tassie and Hawthorn does really well financially out of our sponsorship with the government so I'll be more than happy to play down there until they finally do get their own team.
In the meantime, our southern supporters can be satisfied that they can still get to experience special events like this weekend, when Shane Crawford plays his 300th game.
To play that many games is a great milestone and playing it with him will make this a special day not just for Crawf but for every Hawthorn player who runs out there with him.
It will be our great honour to play with him, and it will be Tassie's honour to host the milestone game of such a legend of our club.
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
