Golf, wine and real estate: Inside Tassie’s pitch to pinch a player from your AFL club

The list of possibilities is endless. The list of probabilities depends on how well the club can compete in the AFL and AFLW.

The man leading the chase is Devils’ list manager Todd Patterson who was poached from Melbourne.

“The player movement landscape has evolved so much. There are so many different ways we can attack it,” Patterson said.

Under the list establishment rules for the men’s team the Devils have a $5 million sign-on bonus above the salary cap, the opportunity to sign one uncontracted player from each club, seven first round picks in the 2027 national draft (four have to be traded), access via the draft to sons of Tasmanian-born players who played 100 AFL games, and the ability to pre-list the best 17-year-olds ahead of the 2027 national draft. They can fill 48 list spots.

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Of course, players need to want to come. That’s where this week’s pitch to the player managers came in.

After the golf and wine, the party of about 30 managers headed to Hobart’s Tasman Hotel for dinner and presentations from Devils officials.

They heard how the club would represent 160 years of football history, how young players would be housed, cared for and developed, and about the lifestyle on offer. Then Patterson rose to speak.

He was the front foot as he strolled between tables and made the case for Tasmania as the place where footballers’ lives could be built with all the trappings but fewer of the hassles that accompany most AFL players, especially in Victoria.

“I don’t have a skerrick of concern that someone will come down and not enjoy the community,” he said.

“We’re about to get serious. We’re ready to get busy in the market.”

The next day the party toured Macquarie Point to hear about the stadium, before a bus ride through Battery Point, Sandy Bay, Taroona and Kingston Beach to the Kingborough Sports Centre where the club’s training and administration centre will be built.

Real estate agents stood at the front of the bus with a microphone, so managers understood the property market in each suburb, the best schools, the potential lifestyle.

It was The Block meets Postcards meets The Recruit.

And it seemed to work.

Paul Connors, whose company CDG Sports manages Nick Daicos, said it would be remiss for them to not listen to what the Devils had on offer, and Daicos himself told this masthead last year he wouldn’t rule out a move to the AFL’s 19th team.

Representatives from other big agencies, TGI Sport, Hemisphere Management, Vivid Sport, Phoenix Management, Kapital Sports, MacSports, More than Management, as well as smaller boutique agencies, in private shared similar sentiments to Connors.

“You never know what discussions will come out of these couple of days, and we’ll just mould out our [list] strategy whilst having some key fundamental principles that underpin it,” Patterson said.

He has the characteristics of a Tassie Devils player in his mind.

“The best way to describe it is someone who’s a bit cheeky, fun, playful, not afraid to take risks and express themselves, but at the same stage, to have gravel in their veins,” he said. “When most people think Tasmanian they think humility and competitiveness. So, they will be key characteristics for us, but you know, we’re in the entertainment industry as well. So, we need to bring a bit of fun and a bit of razzle-dazzle as well.”

It was a statement recruiters can make when the canvas is blank. But part of the picture needs to be drawn this season. Everyone knows the Devils’ clock is ticking.

In less than a month, more than 12,000 Tasmanians are expected to pack into North Hobart to watch the Tassie Devils play Coburg in the first round of the VFL, while VFLW team will debut in May.

In 2028, the club will play their first AFL game. The AFLW team will follow later that year.

Officials hope the state-of-the-art training and administration centre at Kingborough will be built by then, but they have only just called for tenders so that is not guaranteed. The stadium won’t be ready for action until about 2030.

Before then, the team will play at Bellerive Stadium in Hobart. Gale expects ongoing opposition to the stadium but believes the majority of the state is on board particularly after the parliamentary vote.

Gale aims to appoint a football manager before the middle of the year then knuckle down to have a senior coach in place before the season finishes.

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Nathan Buckley, an assistant at Geelong this season, is the pre-post favourite but no decision has been reached.

The club wants an experienced coach who can coach and bring the football-mad state along for the ride.

“I’d like to have a line of sight [on the coach] by the end of the season,” Gale said.

He is aware how important that decision might be for some players contemplating a move.

Tasmania claims six players have already sat down with the club to hear them out, but no commitment has been made nor offers outlined.

That won’t happen until the end of this season, one which will also see them pre-list the best 17-year-olds in the country.

Patterson is “bullish” about the crop which includes under-16 All-Australians such as Axel Walsh and Baxter Zruk. He hopes to have agreements with between six and eight 17-year-olds by September.

Another four Tasmanian 17-year-olds could be added to that group as the river of talent starts to flow again with the Tassie Devils formation.

Then there is reaching handshake deals with established players.

There will be more in that boat, too.

None of those mechanisms will matter if Tasmania does not appeal to players. SEN’s Tim Watson raised doubts this week about the difficulties the club may face in retaining young players in a town the size of Hobart.

Patterson rejects that view. The player managers also seemed to believe the right type of player would be enthusiastic at the prospect of setting up an AFL career in Tasmania. Many are reserving judgment with the club’s initial set-up for young players to be critical.

“It’s just understanding what our offering is and what our identity is,” Patterson said.

“The players are different now. They are looking for a purpose. They are looking for commercial opportunities, and what it means to the family. I don’t think the sell will be the same for every player.”

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Peter Ryan travelled to Tasmania with the support of the Tasmania Devils.

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