\n The Tasmania Devils have declared the real work starts now after a late-night stadium approval vote secured their AFL and AFLW licence\n <\/p>\n
Tasmania Devils CEO Brendon Gale. Pictures: AFL Photos<\/p>\n
FOOTBALL department leadership and not a senior coach is top of the tree for the Tasmania Devils after the club’s licence was green-lit by a “yes” stadium vote.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 23,000-seat Macquarie Point stadium in Hobart, a condition of the Devils entering the AFL and AFLW in 2028, was approved by state parliament on Thursday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“The overwhelming emotion is one of incredible responsibility,” Devils CEO Brendon Gale said on Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We’ve got to deliver a football club. In footy and elite sport you don’t get much time to reflect.<\/p>\n
“In some respects the real work starts now.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
The club, which will enter teams in the VFL and VFLW in 2026, has appointed several off-field coaches and recruiters, including gun former Collingwood scout Derek Hine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Macquarie Point stadium is expected to be completed by 2029. Picture: MPDC<\/p>\n
Tasmania has been in discussions with Nathan Buckley for the head coaching gig.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The ex-Magpie is spending a year as an assistant at Geelong in what is seen as a stepping stone to the Devils.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gale said talks would continue when it came to appointing a head coach.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“A senior coach probably isn’t as urgent given the timeline. Key football department leadership is,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nathan Buckley is seen at Geelong training in November 2025. Picture: @geelongcats Instagram<\/p>\n
“I’ve been amazed at the excitement of key football people \u2026 who see the opportunity to work with a blank canvas, albeit in a state that has 160 years of passion and history of football.”<\/p>\n
Devils chairman Grant O’Brien said several Tasmanian greats had been in touch, including Australian Football Hall of Fame Legend Peter Hudson.<\/p>\n
“I had a phone call from Peter Hudson yesterday who was emotional about (what) this club will do for the state,” O’Brien said.<\/p>\n
“He couldn’t wait to share that excitement and he wants to be part of it. He wants to help.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tasmania-born Brisbane coach Chris Fagan praised Gale and the club’s board for their part in getting the stadium approved.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“How many times have we heard Tassie’s going to get a team in the AFL, only for it to fall by the wayside,” he told SEN radio.<\/p>\n
Chris Fagan celebrates after the AFL Grand Final between Brisbane and Geelong at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on September 27, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos<\/p>\n
“They’ve been able to have enough influence on the political side of things to get the stadium approved.<\/p>\n
“It’s a good thing for Tassie. Not a lot of stuff has been happening down there in the sporting world for a long time.”<\/p>\n
The stadium is slated to be completed by 2029, but Gale indicated the club was thinking it might not be ready until 2030.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tasmania Devils have declared the real work starts now after a late-night stadium approval vote secured their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-331980","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}