Ever wondered just how crazy Tasmanians are about their AFL? Well, read this editorial from Hobart’s biggest paper The Mercury and you’ll start to get the idea.

North Melbourne will play two games a year at Blundstone Arena in Hobart from 2012 and the anticipation is reaching fever pitch.

There is little doubt our little island community is crazy about AFL. Deep in the middle of the off-season for the national footy league, about 650 Tassie fans have already paid up to be members of the new-look Kangaroos - and that is before the Melbourne-based club has even considered mounting a publicity campaign or recruitment drive, let alone played a game here.

Naysayers reckoned the Shinboners were too poor, too lowly, too suburban-Melbourne to make an impact in Tasmania. They reckoned the two games to be played by the Roos at Bellerive would fail - but before a ball has been bounced, Tassie fans are clamouring to get aboard.

The Kangaroos have almost sold out their 630 hospitality seats - across 11 different functions - for the club’s debut at Bellerive against Greater Western Sydney, and the special seats for the second of the two games to be played at Bellerive, against West Coast, are selling fast. Tasmania can cope with much more AFL than what has been on offer in the past few seasons with Hawthorn at Aurora Stadium in Launceston.

Since Hawthorn is not willing to lift the ante and play more games here, Tasmanians will welcome the Roos to Bellerive with open arms. The fact is this state has produced some of the greatest players to ever pull on a boot, from Darrell Baldock to Peter Hudson, Royce Hart, Michael Roach, Matthew Richardson . . . the list goes on and on.

It is true that the Aussie game in Tasmania has struggled in recent decades but that is also true of most of the nation’s states and territories. The AFL extravaganza and its saturation media coverage have captured the imagination of the public.

Never before have players been so fit, so well-prepared, so physically capable, skilful and well-drilled. Is it any wonder more people stay at home to watch the spectacle on TV rather than going to the local games? But despite the incredible lure of the AFL circus, local footy in Tassie kicks on. The stalwarts continue to turn up. And the kids keep pulling on the guernseys. One day we’ll have our own AFL team and on that magnificent day the whole place will turn up to watch.