Australian Football

Burnie Dockers

In 1995, two years after merging with NTFL side and rivals the Burnie Tigers, the new club embarked on a partnership with fledgling AFL club Fremantle, becoming known as the Burnie Dockers in the process.

Since the collapse of the statewide competition at the end of the 2000 season Burnie has competed in the NTFL, with considerable success. In 2001, under the coaching of former Collingwood champion Mick McGuane, the side went through the roster matches unbeaten and won the flag with a 17.14 (116) to 7.10 (52) grand final defeat of fellow ex-statewide club Northern Bombers. It repeated this success the following year, this time with Nick Probert holding the coaching reins, when it overcame a spirited early challenge from Ulverstone to win in the end with some comfort, 14.5 (89) to 5.12 (42). Then, in 2003, the Dockers made it three in a row in fine style by overcoming the previously unbeaten Northern Bombers in a surprisingly one-sided grand final, 14.11 (95) to 6.13 (49).

Going from strength to strength, in 2004 the Dockers secured their most conclusive premiership victory yet, with their 23.19 (157) to 7.8 (50) annihilation of Devonport generating an all time record margin of victory for an NTFL grand final. The 2005 season brought a league record-equalling fifth successive flag thanks to a hard fought 17 point grand final victory over perennial victims Devonport, and few people would have been prepared to bet against a sixth consecutive premiership win in 2006. However, it was not to be, as the side endured a frankly abysmal year, managing just 8 wins and conclusively failing even to qualify for the finals. That failure was repeated twelve months later, albeit after a slightly more positive campaign that yielded a 9-9 record and a positive percentage to boot. In 2008 the Dockers reached the NTFL grand final but despite finishing strongly went down by 13 points to Launceston.

The 2009 season saw the reintroduction of a statewide competition known as the Tasmanian State League (TSL) with Burnie among the inaugural member clubs. The Dockers reached their first TSL grand final in 2011 only to lose to Launceston by 44 points. A year later Burnie topped the ladder heading into the finals and ultimately went on to claim their first premiership in the new competition. Once again opposed on grand final day by Launceston the Dockers led at every change by 8, 35 and 59 points before coasting to victory by a 48 point margin, 16.14 (110) to 9.8 (62). Burnie's Jason Laycock was awarded the Darrel Baldock Medal as best afield. The victorious Dockers were coached by Brent Plant.

This proved to be Burnie's last statewide premiership, although they did reach the 2013 grand final only to lose a thriller to South Launceston by nine points. More recently, the team has experienced fluctuating fortunes with the nadir coming in a 2017 season which saw them slump to the wooden spoon. Then, in February 2018 came something of a bombshell: the Dockers were withdrawing from the state league citing a lack of players, and thereby leaving the former football hotbed of north west Tasmania without a state league club. The announcement coincided with the launch by the AFL of a new, bastardised, atrophied form of football involving silver balls, circus acts, a rectangular playing arena, "play on" when a ball strikes a goal or behind post and then bounces back into play, and 10-point "super goals". 

As of 2018 the Dockers senior team commenced competing in the North West Football League where they have performed strongly, iclaiming premierships in each of their first three seasons.

In common with most other states, Tasmania has, over recent years, been continually forced to modify its football infrastructure in order to keep in step with developments in the sport’s highest tier, the AFL. Such frequent change has not made life easy for Tasmania's clubs, and as far as the Dockers are concerned it is hard to escape the impression that, with the AFL's priorities clearly lying elsewhere, the demise of the club will not have given rise to anything like the levels of self-recrimination and dismay that might be felt to be appropriate.