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Speaker 1: Well, the Northern Territory is a step closer to having

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Speaker 1: its own AFL team with the release of a strategic

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Speaker 1: business case by the Australian Football League Team Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: task Force. Now this task force, they've completed this strategic

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Speaker 1: business case. It includes a ten year plan to establish

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Speaker 1: a Northern Territory based AFL club. The task Force is

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Speaker 1: made up of the Northern Territory Government, AFLNT representatives along

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Speaker 1: with industry and AFL leaders. It was formed in twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty one to lead the investigation into establishing an AFL

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Speaker 1: club in the Northern Territory, which I think we would

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Speaker 1: all love to see. Now joining us on the show

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Speaker 1: is the head of AFL here in the Northern Territory,

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Speaker 1: Sean Bowden.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Sean, Good morning Cody.

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Speaker 1: Great to have you on the show. Now, what has

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Speaker 1: this strategic business case shown?

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Speaker 2: As Sean, I think one of the reasons we needed

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Speaker 2: to go into it was we needed understand and the

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Speaker 2: economics that lie beyond in an AFL team and an

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Speaker 2: AFL team project. And so a large part of the

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Speaker 2: report delves into those economics and I've got to say

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Speaker 2: it's quite came out stronger than I anticipated and can

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Speaker 2: really see some quite extraordinary economic benefits for bringing the

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Speaker 2: team to the territory. But it does go.

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Speaker 3: Well beyond that.

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Speaker 2: It looks at the economic and social impact as well

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Speaker 2: as the direct flow on economic benefits that come from

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Speaker 2: a team and other infrastructure builds. And because of the

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Speaker 2: composition of the task force.

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Speaker 3: Including a lot of football people and people have been

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Speaker 3: on a football journey like Peter Jackson, who CEO of

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Speaker 3: Melbourne and Lewis Martin who's the head of Channel seven

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Speaker 3: in Melbourne.

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Speaker 2: It also deals really strongly with the aspirational aspects of

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Speaker 2: the team, what it means for the territory community, what

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Speaker 2: it means for the young men and women of the territory.

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Speaker 2: Should we be able to implement it in the right

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Speaker 2: way and have a team here, a homegrown team representing

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Speaker 2: the territory which people can aspire to and not just

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Speaker 2: play football within not just being an AFIL player, but

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Speaker 2: it can be a participate in the team. There's one

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Speaker 2: hundred and sixty jobs CODIA that comes straight off the

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Speaker 2: bat with an AFL team that's without the flow on effects.

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Speaker 2: I think the report estimates about one hundred and sixteen

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Speaker 2: million dollars improved and your economic input. I think that's

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Speaker 2: the baseline the way I read the report. There's just

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Speaker 2: opportunity there for territories in the future, territorians who are

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Speaker 2: here now. And the other thing, I'm surprisingly we moved

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Speaker 2: into this and when fair a bit deeper than we

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Speaker 2: thought that the whole idea of livability, what it means

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Speaker 2: to create a sort of socie civic society where everyone's comfortable,

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Speaker 2: there's something to do, there's something I look forward to,

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Speaker 2: there's something getting people out of bed in the morning,

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Speaker 2: something to aspire to for younger people with the linkag

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Speaker 2: just education and health, with that aspiration piece that comes

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Speaker 2: through a livability piece. And finally, you know, in this

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Speaker 2: big piece of work, and this was a really positive

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Speaker 2: element to it, the strategic piece. The Northern Territory is upfront.

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Speaker 2: We are at the front door to Asia, the gateway

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Speaker 2: to Asia, and we're finding that we're getting reflected towards

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Speaker 2: this a lot of positive sentiment saying well, this is important,

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Speaker 2: not just the churches, could be important to the nation.

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Speaker 2: Have a really powerful image being projected by the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 1: I had wondered that you know, as I've read it

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Speaker 1: out yesterday or spoken about it yesterday on air, and

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Speaker 1: I thought to myself, you know, it's wonderful for us

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Speaker 1: in a lot of different ways here in the NT.

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Speaker 1: And when you talk about tourism and the pride that

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Speaker 1: you feel in a team that is the Northern Territory,

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Speaker 1: but also given our close proximity to Asia, whether we

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Speaker 1: would potentially sort of see a flow on in that

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Speaker 1: aspect when it comes to tourism and people coming here

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Speaker 1: to watch the great game right here in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: One hundred percent. And we don't want to get ahead

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Speaker 2: of ourselves and saying we're some sort of a colog

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Speaker 2: in a strategic peace, but we are here in the North.

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Speaker 2: We are well positioned. Singapore's four hundred good hours away,

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Speaker 2: Bali's two and a good hours away, Jakarta's two and

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Speaker 2: a half hours away, Southeast Asians there, we can get

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Speaker 2: to China and India in seven and a half hours.

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Speaker 2: So this is a really important consideration. If we can

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Speaker 2: do this right and we create a strong functioning team,

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Speaker 2: we grow. When we grow the territory, we grow the regions,

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Speaker 2: and we also then start to get that on benefits

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Speaker 2: and you know, I was in Adelaide for the gather

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Speaker 2: Round and I was seriously people, I was green with

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Speaker 2: envy there just seeing the impact of that gather round

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Speaker 2: head on the city into their premiere. So, you know,

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Speaker 2: ten years ago we realized we had to switch the

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Speaker 2: dial in Adelaide. In South Australia had lost their manufacturing base.

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Speaker 2: They had to get the economic base going again, but

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Speaker 2: they also had to project the image of South Australia,

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Speaker 2: had to project it in a positive way for the

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Speaker 2: rest of the nation in the world that South Australia

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Speaker 2: was a good place to live, place that was up

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Speaker 2: and about. So that actually had an impact on me,

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Speaker 2: and it sort of gives you encouragement that it is

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Speaker 2: a long journey, but it's worth doing the hard work

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Speaker 2: putting the data down and then of course what we've

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Speaker 2: got to do now start to speak in a more

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Speaker 2: serious way with the people of the Northern Territory and

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Speaker 2: the stakeholders.

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Speaker 1: It's funny you mentioned as well that gather around and

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Speaker 1: being in Adelaide. I was there a couple of weekends

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Speaker 1: later and I could not believe the volume of people

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Speaker 1: walking through the city. You know, I went to get

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Speaker 1: on a tram you could not fit anyone else on there.

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Speaker 1: It was phenomenal. And when you think about that and

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Speaker 1: you think about what footy does and what any sport

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Speaker 1: really but particularly in this space, what foot he can

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Speaker 1: do for a place like Adelaide and what it could

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Speaker 1: potentially do for a place like Darwin be amazing. I

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Speaker 1: guess the big question people will be asking though, is

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Speaker 1: how much is it going to cost and how do

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Speaker 1: we get there and how long is it going to take?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, look, just to let people know, to start

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Speaker 2: the reports up on the AFL inta website so it's

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Speaker 2: there for everyone to read and they can work their

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Speaker 2: way way through it. We did. We did some really

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Speaker 2: careful work and grew able to get the data from

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Speaker 2: the AFL system as to what it costs to run

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Speaker 2: a team and what you can expect to generate by

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Speaker 2: running a team. And there is a deficit there, but

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Speaker 2: the number of scenarios are painted. If you look at

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Speaker 2: the snow for example, of what the IOFL contributes to teams,

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Speaker 2: likes and killed at North Melbourne Western Bulldogs already now

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Speaker 2: on twenty twenty two to twenty three numbers. We're looking

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Speaker 2: at a gap of about thirty million. Now those numbers

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Speaker 2: improved the IFL of subsequently that they're sort of almost

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Speaker 2: post COVID numbers have included it. There's probably an extra

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Speaker 2: twenty percent distributions going to teams, so it's still a

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Speaker 2: significant If you look at the average of all clubs,

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Speaker 2: which includes the Collingwoods and the Richmond's, that gap pushes

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Speaker 2: out six sev twenty twenty two numbers.

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Speaker 3: So if you look at what the AFL contributes to

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Speaker 3: Gwork and Gold Coast, there's.

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Speaker 2: Almost no gap on current numbers. Now that's not to

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Speaker 2: say the AFL and not projecting to us for one

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Speaker 2: minute that will obtain the same level of support. We're

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Speaker 2: in a different world and Tasmania hasn't obtained that support.

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Speaker 2: But when you prepare that contribution with what the economic

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Speaker 2: drivers are and what the economic derivet is are one

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Speaker 2: hundred and sixty jobs immediately and one hundred and sixty

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Speaker 2: one hundred and seventy flow on jobs that sort of

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Speaker 2: wrap around jobs around the industry. I mean, you've got

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Speaker 2: a project here that's got about as many people working

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Speaker 2: in it just to start with as impacts, it's not impacts.

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Speaker 2: It hasn't got the gas and all that sort of stuff,

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Speaker 2: but it's driving, it's using human capital, not natural resources.

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Speaker 2: I think the economics stack up well. And what we've got,

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Speaker 2: of course is we're a state. North Melbourne doesn't have

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Speaker 2: a don't I can't go to the Victorian government, so

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Speaker 2: we want to give you a special treatment here and

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Speaker 2: assist us. We can look to the Northern Territory government

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Speaker 2: within reason for support, and we can look to the

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Speaker 2: federal government. I think it's very important because the federal

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Speaker 2: government really does have an obligation here to participate in

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Speaker 2: this in this project, particularly given the strategic importance of

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Speaker 2: the North.

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Speaker 1: Well, I tell you it makes for some interesting reading.

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Speaker 1: And I think that for everybody that's you know, that

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Speaker 1: loves their footy, we'd love to see this get up

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Speaker 1: and going in the NT. We're still a while away,

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Speaker 1: but the work has to happen, and you know, I

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Speaker 1: think a lot of people will be really, really keen

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Speaker 1: to see this happen. Sean Bowden, head of AFL, was

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Speaker 1: that mate, Sorry I cut in on you there.

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Speaker 2: We'll keep building it, Katie, Yeah, we'll keep building it absolutely.

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Speaker 1: Sean Bowden, head of AFL here in the NT. Good

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Speaker 1: to chat with you today. Thank you so much for

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Speaker 1: your time.

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Speaker 2: Thank you again, thank you