Tasmania’s expected entrance into the AFL in the 2028 season comes at the perfect time for the club’s list build.
Following a corresponding – but distinctly separate – timeline from the Devils’ 2028 entrance has been the development of what is viewed as one of the state’s strongest ever draft hauls.
The Devils won their three games at the 2025 U16s National Development Championships by 70, 164 and 20 points respectively to take out the Pool B title.
Success at the U16s does not always correlate to a high quantity of players being drafted due to the different age of players’ development and focus on development.
But there is reason to be optimistic about the 2027 crop.
Max Gulliver, Sam Husband and Lucas Heazlewood headline the names Tasmania will get priority access to, with Chaice Oliver, Max Fuglsang, Max Dawkins and Mason Whitney also viewed by recruiters as potentially draftable Tasmanian prospects in the crop.
Husband has long been viewed by scouts as the best talent from the Tasmanian 2027 crop, with Gulliver joining him in the 2025 U16s All-Australian side, while Heazlewood is a marketable goalkicker with swagger.
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Lucas Heazlewood of Tasmania celebrates during a 2025 Marsh AFL National Development Championships U16 Boys match. (Photo by Craig Dooley/AFL Photos)
All aforementioned names were standouts at the U16s National Development Championships in 2025 for Tasmania and will be available to the Devils at their first-ever AFL Draft following the conclusion of the 2027 season.
Only Geordie Payne (North Melbourne), who has since been delisted, and Avery Thomas (Gold Coast Suns) have been drafted from Tasmania in the last two years after four players in each of the 2022 and 2023 AFL Drafts.
From a drafting point of view, the club entering the competition in 2028 seems too good to be true.
A raft of draft concessions have been granted for Tasmania as the AFL balances expediting the Devils’ list build with keeping the draft as pure as possible.
For the first four years, Tasmania will have the ability to pre-list Tasmanian juniors, enabling them free access to locals before transitioning to a model comparable to the Northern Academy bidding system.
The Devils will also have access to pre-list 2026 draft-eligible players part of the state’s pathway program, with any players selected to play VFL for the Devils in 2027 before being part of the club’s inaugural AFL list.
Charlie Bovill, Archie Devine and Ryder Bugg are viewed as the best 2026 prospects from Tasmania, with Bovill playing in the 2025 U17s Futures showcase, indicating he is viewed in the top 40 prospects 12 months out.
In Tasmania’s first draft, it will have seven top 13 selections – Picks 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13 – and Picks 5, 7, 11 and 13 must be traded.
The club will also have the first selection of each subsequent round.
The best players in the 2027 draft pool are cognisant of the fact that if they are selected towards the pointy end of the draft, there is a high likelihood they will end up in the Apple Isle.
Those provisions provide a club building from ground zero with enough capital to sustainably build, while also giving them the best chance to compete in the short term by welcoming in established talent.
Clubs were aware of the list concessions prior to the 2025 National Draft and, outside of Port Adelaide, which has three highly touted club-tied prospects in the pool, would be expected to avoid relying too heavily on it given its heavily compromised nature.
The Devils will also get Picks 5 and 9 and the first selection of subsequent rounds – with the provision that Pick 5 must be traded – in 2028 and 2029, in addition to their natural draft hand.
The 2027 crop is viewed as a strong one two years out, with Western Australian ruck Axel Walsh, and the Victorian trio of key forward Jake Miller, small forward Max Thompson and midfielder Baxter Sruk, among the standout names.
Tasmania will also be granted a flexible list size, allowing their inaugural list to swell as large as 48 players, with a return to industry standard by their sixth year of competing.
Up to 18 out-of-contract players are allowed to be listed at a maximum of one per club. Clubs will receive compensation if they lose players to Tasmania.
Excitement machine Kai Lohmann, Collingwood forward/midfielder Beau McCreery, who has previously been rumoured to a move away from the Magpies, and Bailey Dale are among the names to come out of contract ahead of Tasmania’s arrival.
Expect Colby McKercher, taken with Pick 2 in the 2023 AFL National Draft, to also be in the club’s sights, having not extended his initial three-year contract.
Tom Green and Will Day are the faces of the 2027 free agency crop.
Access will also be provided to a pool of $5,000,000 outside of the AFL salary cap, to be utilised over TDFC’s first two years – maximum spend of $3,000,000 in either year.
Mini drafts of 17-year-old players will be held in 2026 and 2027, with the Devils to have two selections in each draft, with the requirement for those picks to be traded.
The VFL side has also guaranteed at least two inaugural rookie list spots and up to four for players who play for Tasmania’s VFL side across the 2026 and 2027 seasons.
It has already incentivised AFL aspirants to Tasmania, with established VFL defender Nick Williams speaking publicly about the role those ‘golden tickets’ onto an AFL list played in his decision to move from Southport.
Payne, Robbie Fox, Hugh Dixon, Caleb Mitchell, Cameron Owen and Jye Menzie are other former AFL players on Tassie’s inaugural VFL list.
The Devils are widely expected to be a strong VFL side in 2026.
Many of the above concessions and provisions are informed by the lessons from Gold Coast and GWS Giants’ introduction to the AFL in the early 2010s.
All of those provisions are subject to change, while changes to the draft value index and bidding rules could also impact Tasmania’s list build.
The development of those players, alongside the likely recruits, provides optimism that Tasmania will be able to sustainably build a list.
“We’ve got to sit down now, take our time, digest all this and strategise it,” Tasmania’s Head of List Management and Strategy Todd Patterson said following the announcement of the concessions in October.
“We’re really happy, and the AFL, they were great through the whole process. It was a real collaboration, and even the contributions from the other clubs.
“I think there’s a lot of goodwill towards us in this process. I’d say now that this package has landed, the goodwill will be gone, and it’s now time to compete.”
How do Tasmania’s concessions compare to the GWS Giants?
GWS received access to sign up to 12 17-year-olds born between January 1 and April 30 1993. This provision has not been granted.
The Giants had the opportunity to sign up 16 out-of-contract players from other clubs and up to 10 delisted players. This has been increased to 18 players, with a maximum of one player per club.
GWS had 11 of the first 14 selections of the 2012 AFL National Draft. This has been reduced to seven of the first 13 for the Devils, with trade contingencies existing for both clubs
The mini draft has remained consistent, as has the larger list size and additional money at both clubs’ disposal.