{"id":899345,"date":"2026-09-20T21:40:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T21:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/899345\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T21:40:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T21:40:21","slug":"tasmania-devils-football-club-building-talent-pool-ahead-of-2028-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/899345\/","title":{"rendered":"Tasmania Devils football club building talent pool ahead of 2028 debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tell us about your experience. <\/p>\n

The Tasmania Devils AFL team has secured a coach, is on track to build a stadium and is training its up-and-coming players as the state prepares to join the national football league in 2028.<\/p>\n

Some of the Devils’ first official players are likely to be sourced from interstate, but the Tasmanian club is looking to its homegrown talent as the foundation to field a strong side for the future.<\/p>\n

Through its pathways program, about 420 young people from areas around Launceston, the North West and Hobart already train regularly to develop their potential as AFL and AFLW players.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Prince trains with the Tasmania Devils’ Launceston hub, which supports young talented footballers to develop their AFL potential.\u00a0 (ABC News: Duncan Bailey)<\/p>\n

Fifteen-year-old Launceston local, Prince, is part of the program and trains four times a week, splitting his sessions between the Devils and his local football club.<\/p>\n

He said being considered for a future AFL career was a “dream come true”, and that he was motivated by his family’s refugee journey from Sierra Leone before he was born.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Prince’s family migrated from West Africa to Tasmania before he was born.\u00a0 (ABC News: Duncan Bailey)<\/p>\n

“[My family] went to a refugee camp in Ghana \u2026 where my brother and sister were born \u2026 and then [to] Australia,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It requires a lot of resilience to migrate and raise multiple kids in a different country.<\/p>\n

“That work ethic has been passed on through my upbringing and I just really want to work hard at my sport to give back to [my family].”Loading…<\/p>\n

Coby, 15, is a fellow Tasmania Devils pathways player who almost left football behind after a loss in his family.<\/p>\n

Playing in the AFL had been his dream since watching a football game at the MCG when he was six years old.<\/p>\n

He said getting the call to say he had made the pathways team was “one of the happiest days” of his life.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Coby says his Nan’s passing has inspired him to push on with chasing his AFL dreams because she was his biggest supporter. (ABC News: Duncan Bailey)<\/p>\n

“But when my Nan passed away, I thought, ‘How am I going to overcome this and do what I usually do without my biggest supporter?'” he said.<\/p>\n

“Then I realised, if I quit I would never know how good I could be.<\/p>\n

“Now I want to be the best that I can be [for her] \u2026 hopefully that’s going as far as the AFL.”<\/p>\n

Devils set sights on AFLW<\/p>\n

The Tasmania Devils pathways program also focuses on creating a competitive AFLW side for the state.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Lilanni plays in the Tasmania U18 Talent League side. (ABC News: Duncan Bailey)<\/p>\n

Lilanni, 17, plays in the Tasmania under-18 talent league side and is draft eligible this year.<\/p>\n

She hopes to join her sister, Fremantle Dockers’ player Tunisha Kikoak, in the AFLW ranks.<\/p>\n

“When I first touched the ball I [knew I] wanted to be in the draft and be an AFLW player like my sister,” she said.<\/p>\n

Lilanni said the increased focus on women’s football across the country had led to better development for young female players.<\/p>\n

“There’s more opportunities for the girls that I play alongside [than before] and there’s more chances to grow as a player,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Brad Cox-Goodyer is AFL Tasmania talent pathways skills acquisition coach and says the Devils are building a strong side ahead of their debut in 2028.\u00a0 (ABC News: Duncan Bailey)<\/p>\n

AFL Tasmania talent pathways skills acquisition coach Brad Cox-Goodyer said the Devils had already been working to develop individual talent.<\/p>\n

“We’re in our third year now and it’s exciting \u2026 [we] get better every year and [are] hoping to get more kids playing for the Tassie Devils,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We want to try and attract as many people to football as possible and from all different types of backgrounds.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tell us about your experience. The Tasmania Devils AFL team has secured a coach, is on track to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":899346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[638,468030,64,63,596,9116,187980,85,53432,390698,238779],"class_list":["post-899345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-afl","tag-afl-tasmania","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-footy","tag-heywire","tag-sports","tag-tasmania-devils","tag-tasmania-devils-football-club","tag-tassie-devils"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899345","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=899345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/899346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=899345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=899345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=899345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}