Sportsday’s Dwayne Russell is reporting that North Melbourne and Hawthorn will sever ties with Tasmania to make way for the state becoming the AFL's 19th team in 2023.

Russell believes the AFL is currently looking into this idea while insisting the Suns will remain on the Gold Coast.

“I’m hearing no Hawthorn and no North Melbourne in Tassie after 2021,” he said Sportsday.

“I’m hearing no games at all in Tassie in 2022 with the idea that Tassie would get its 19th team into the AFL in 2023.

“It’s a pencilled plan, it’s a plan being investigated but it’s nothing new, we’ve been talking about a Tassie team for a while.

“I’m told the AFL’s long-term plan is that the Suns survive.

“They’re going to be the Suns on the Gold Coast, that’s it, forget about it.”