Tasmania's controversial new stadium for its incoming AFL team faces yet another crucial step this coming week.
Tasmania's planning commission will submit its assessment report of the Devils' proposed $945 million stadium at Macquarie Point in Hobart on September 17.
To be approved, it needs to pass through both houses of parliament in the state, and footy commentator Gerard Whateley laid out his serious concerns for the project.
A licence for the Tassie AFL team has always been dependent on a new stadium being built.
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“There’s a lot to play out with Tassie,” Whateley told SEN. “I think the stadium is in significant jeopardy, more so than ever before.
“There’s a report that’s due at the end of September, which I think is going to challenge the politics around it more severely than has happened. It has bipartisan support for the time being.
“I wonder when that report lands, from what I’m told, whether bipartisan support will survive that and then what that ultimately means.
“Because it’s a conditional license, and the stadium is a big part of that, I feel less confident around the stadium as we sit here before that report lands than ever before."
The Devils have had moments of great fanfare since they were initially awarded a licence, with footy greats from the Apple Isle such as Matthew Richardson and Jack Riewoldt celebrating the state's long-awaited inclusion in the national competition.
It was announced earlier this month Tasmania's VFL and VFLW teams will enter those competitions in 2026 as the club continues to take shape.
There have also been some speed bumps along the way, however, and elements of uncertainty still plague the project.
“I think there’s going to be a moment where the AFL has to sit down and say, ‘we held our line the whole way through, are we still holding this line or are we going to deny Tasmania its team on the (issues) of the stadium'," Whateley continued.
“Who knows who’s in charge at that stage? We could have a different chairman of commission by then. That side of it is unanswerable.”