HOBART, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 03: A general view of the grandstand prior to the 2019 NAB AFLW Round 01 match between the North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos and the Carlton Blues at North Hobart Oval on February 03, 2019 in Hobart, Australia. (Photo by Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images)

Tasmania are set to become the AFL’s 19th team in the 2023 season, according to Sportsday’s Dwayne Russell.

Russel says North Melbourne and Hawthorn are set to cut ties with Tasmania to allow the state to independently join the competition.

“I’m hearing no Hawthorn and no North Melbourne in Tassie after 2021,” he said Sportsday.

“I’m hearing no games at all in Tassie in 2022 with the idea that Tassie would get its 19th team into the AFL in 2023.

“It’s a pencilled plan, it’s a plan being investigated but it’s nothing new, we’ve been talking about a Tassie team for a while.

“I’m told the AFL’s long-term plan is that the Suns survive.

“They’re going to be the Suns on the Gold Coast, that’s it, forget about it.”