Veteranย Ageย and Channel Nineย journalist Caroline Wilson has taken aim at AFL officials for delaying an announcement regarding a Tasmanian franchise.
In her longstanding segment 'Caro's Arrow' on Nine's 'Footy Classified', the scribe claimed that the league had let down an entire state of footy fans as they dragged their feet.
โThe AFL has failed Tasmania,โ Wilson began.
โNot for the first time โ and probably not for the last โ the gameโs governors have not delivered upon their charter."
"He didn't give Tasmanians a timeline."
Caroline Wilson hits out at the AFL over Colin Carter's 'insulting' report into Tasmanian footy.#9FootyClassified | Watch @Channel9 pic.twitter.com/Msmnox6AAE
— Footy on Nine (@FootyonNine) August 16, 2021
She then turned her bow directly on the AFL's CEO, Gillon McLachlan, and Chairman, Richard Goyder, for 'kicking the can'.
โObsessed with debt elimination and hiding behind a pandemic, both Gillon McLachlan and Richard Goyder have failed to show any leadership in this area and because they have strung along, and insulted, an entire football loving state of Tasmanians โ leading up to the Premier, Peter Gutwein โ this feels personal."
Wilson also suggested that the findings of the much anticipated 'Carter Report' was just another means for impeding progress.
โTheyโve also hidden behind the โColin Carter Reportโ โ another delaying tactic in my view,โ she continued.
โEven the โCarter Reportโ was promised in June and delivered in August.
โIt was well-written. It was enthusiastic. It was positive. But it failed to deliver any true substance. Not even a timeline. Not even one that was Covid dependent. And certainly, no serious option โ just three-choices. Two of which, in my view, were totally untenable. One, no team is going to relocate, and a joint venture, please, thatโs an AFL push and [is] just insulting."
Although scathing, Wilson offered an antidote to the stagnant status quo.
โThere should be only one-joint venture where Tasmania is concerned โ one between the AFL and the state government of Tasmania, potentially with the federal government, and ultimately big business to create a 19th AFL team."
The daughter of former Richmond President Ian Wilson rounded out her tirade by quoting the Tiger's current CEO, Brendan Gale.
"What are we, the keepers of the code or the keepers of the wallet?"
Wilson's co-host, and former Essendon legend, Matthew Lloyd raised the notion that perhaps Carter was simply delivering what the league had requested to be delivered โ a view that Wilson agreed with due to the fact that the former Geelong President had failed to deliver a timeline to the Apple Isleโs public.
โHe could of least have said โonce the weโre through that [the Covid pandemic], three-years after thatโ,โ the scribe retorted.
โTo offer three-options and not say what he thought was the best solution is just insulting.โ
Fellow panelist Craig Hutchison weighed in by suggesting that these perceived delays were not coincidental and that if Gillon McLachlan truly wanted a franchise in Tasmania, far more progress would have been made on the matter.
โHeโs a strong leader [and] if he wanted a team in Tasmania, he would drive an agenda and it would happen," he said.
Wilson rounded out her contention by stating that although the leagueโs forefront view was to tighten the purse strings, the introduction of four-new AFLW franchises was made as it was โthe right thing to doโ - a move she believed should have extended to a Tasmanian announcement.
The journalist's views come in the wake of fellow media member, and vocal Tasmanian advocate, Tim Lane held an emotion charged interview with Carter on Saturday.
At the time of writing, McLachlan is yet to issue any further statement surrounding the release of said report.
