SACKED podcast: Alastair Lynch talks recruitment for the Tasmania Devils

The AFL’s 19th side is on the hunt for your club’s gun players. In the in the latest episode of SACKED, Alastair Lynch reveals the Devils’ plan to secure senior talent and contend for finals quickly.

Tasmania Devils football director Alastair Lynch says the club plans to build a “compelling case” to star acquisitions that footy’s 19th team can become a finals force within a few years of entering the competition.

And Lynch says the Devils’ first coach does not have to be Tasmanian-born, but must be prepared to hit the road building a community-based team that unites the entire state.

Tasmanian-born Lynch says the appointment of Brendon Gale as the Devils’ first chief executive is the perfect choice for a team that unlike recent expansion sides has a 150-year football history to tap into.

The AFL will hand the Devils a huge suite of draft picks and the new team is expected to have lucrative sign-on bonuses to hand to senior players prepared to move. Those players will not only secure fat contracts, the Devils will have between $1m-$1.5 million to hand over in sign-on bonuses to lure players south.

Alastair Lynch (R) believes the Devils can compete for finals within a few years of entering the AFL. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

But as Lynch says, the Devils must be able to mount a case that they can play finals in the short term so they can attract young players who believe they can win a flag.

“I think we can build a really compelling case where it will be exciting for people to come. As with any start up its hard because the reality is you are probably not going to win the flag in year one,” he told the Herald Sun’s Sacked podcast.

“But we want to build a case where you don’t have to sell to someone that it’s going to be a 10-12 year journey to play finals.”

Asked if the club had to sell to those players that the Devils would be in the flag window in year four, he replied: “Absolutely”.

The Devils have plenty of hooks to offer potential recruits. Picture: Getty Images

“So part of the opportunities will be around the salary cap. There will be opportunities there. So we have put a lot of work into the attraction piece but there is also the retention piece and creating our own talent pathways and academies. We have seen young Tassie men and women drafted in recent years but we need to enhance that and ramp it so we can create a pathway that will underpin our footy club.”

Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley is seen within AFL House as a strong contender for the Tasmania Devils role, and he is seen to be open to considering that position.

Premiership coach Chris Fagan could be a contender for a head of football role by 2028 but the 2024 premiership means he could also stay on long-term at the Lions.

Nathan Buckley could become Tasmania’s first AFL coach. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Lynch says the better the club’s backroom staff the more flexible the Devils can be with their senior coach.

“Brendon starts with the club next year and he’s going to be a key figure in that appointment. We have got to get the right person and that isn’t saying the right person has to be the Leigh Matthews type,” he said.

“If you have the right CEO and right football manager, it gives you flexibility with the coach.

“No, they don’t have to be Tasmanian. You are going to have to enter the role with energy.

“It’s a Tasmanian team. So you have to have the energy to get around the state. The whole state, and build things, rather than have an established system that you are reigniting.“

Originally published as SACKED podcast: Alastair Lynch talks recruitment for the Tasmania Devils