Why former Pie coach Nathan Buckley, footy boss Graham Wright should be Devils’ top targets
Tasmania Devils have secured Brendon Gale as their first CEO — but who’s next? JAY CLARK takes you inside how the AFL’s 19th club is being built and reveals the big-name targets in their sights.
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Nathan Buckley said he was likely done with AFL coaching.
Looking on at the challenges Ross Lyon and Alastair Clarkson currently face, there are never guarantees jumping in for a second coaching stint and the pressures and stresses of the job are as sharp as ever.
But, after a couple of years in the footy media, there is one job which could or should tempt Buckley.
The head coaching role at the Tasmanian Football Club.
On the whiteboard inside the bowels of the Devils’ headquarters is a list of 45 objectives designed to help bring a footy club – which already has 192,000 members – to life.
The groundswell of support has exceeded all expectations following Government support for a new stadium at Mac Point to give the club a brilliant and multipurpose new home.
But after landing Brendon Gale as new chief executive, attention now turns to what they need in a senior coach.
And, more specifically, who could do it.
Geelong Coach Chris Scott stands out as the No. 1 coach in the game, and if they can secure the Cats’ dual premiership boss, Tassie has hit the jackpot.
But when you think about what Tasmania need in a new coach over the next few years to give it credibility, connectivity, cache, character and capability from the get-go, Buckley ticks all boxes.
Like a soccer-style manager who more oversees the whole coaching operation, Buckley would make a splash in the local market, give Tasmania a face, and secure someone who can talk to a 16-year-old as well as he can deal with a big business chief executive.
And while you can debate his coaching record until the cows come home, he was a Dom Sheed clutch set shot from the boundary line away from a premiership in charge of Collingwood in 2018.
Under fierce pressure, the club rose from a team on its knees to the Grand Final and led by three goals at quarter time until West Coast produced an unforgettable passage of play late to take home the cup. And deservedly so.
So, while some may point to the lack of a premiership in his football resume as a negative, there is also the view there remains a hunger to chase and achieve what has so far eluded him across two premiership deciders as a player, and one as a coach.
Those who work with him in his current media roles suggest the 51-year-old still has plenty to give, and like Carlton coach Michael Voss has said many times, will be better in his second go at it after 10 years at Collingwood.
At the Magpies, Buckley tried for many years to get Graham Wright from Hawthorn as his right-hand man.
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Wright eventually lobbed at Collingwood, and was part of the call to part ways with Buckley, but it was a mutual decision, and they are known to still have a great relationship.
Wright is a proud Tasmanian, from Devonport, and remains probably the most respected list builder and football manager in the caper.
The man who was elevated into the Tasmanian Hall of Fame in 2014 for his outstanding contribution to the game is meant to return to the Magpies when he returns from an overseas holiday in about August, but the AFL is already in his ear about other opportunities. New horizons.
No one at Collingwood seems particularly confident Wright will return.
If Gale can land Buckley and Wright he would be laughing.
They also need a capable fleet of assistants to roll up their sleeves on the nitty gritty workings of player performance, but there is a feeling the head coach of the new Tassie team can’t be untried heading into its first AFL season.
GWS had Kevin Sheedy and Mark Williams. Gold Coast had Guy McKenna. Tasmania also needs some presence and authority. A big name with experience and an ability to have visibility across various aspects of the club.
Former Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew also wants to re-enter the coaching ranks, after being turfed out of the Suns.
But what style of football do the Devils want to play? The stats indicate you need to be top-six in attack and defence to go all the way. But would the style of play also need to be attractive to help capture the hearts and minds of the locals.
Gale was a tremendous appointment for Tasmania as one of the most respected figures in the game, following his triple-premiership run at Richmond. Gale took Richmond from the doldrums to a powerhouse. He is universally admired.
Gale declared the club would win three flags at its lowest point and he delivered.
Of course, Gale will move to Hobart when he finishes up at Richmond at the end of this season, if not sooner. His home office would be busy, currently.
The Devils want their people to live in Tassie, love the place, and represent it with pride.
The accomplished Kath McCann is Tasmania’s executive director who is working feverishly on the club’s objectives to help the club take flight in time for its first AFL season it hopes in 2028.
Setting up the club’s training base at Rosny Park is a massive priority, considering some of the challenges Gold Coast and GWS Giants faced at their original headquarters early in their journeys.
For the Suns, the early set-up was a debacle, with players hurting ankles on pot holes on training ovals and training out of demountable offices and gyms.
The facilities, high performance underspend and lack of team success at the Suns was a disaster for the retention.
Tasmania is clearly trying to learn those lessons, and wants to be good on and off the field from the start.
McCann said the club would be ambitious from the get-go.
“There is no doubt the Tasmanian Football Club will be a destination club,” McCann said.
“And with that will come a really clear proposition around athletes, administrators, and all staff that are going to be most successful in this environment.
“There is going to be a clear focus that we get that right.
“We want to attract staff on field and off field that really want to be a part of the
Tasmanian community and embrace everything about representing Tasmania and wearing that map with pride.”
While the team won’t enter the AFL until 2028, the club is on the clock.
The Devils could play VFL in 2027, and will need its list concessions all mapped out in the next 12 months to determine a pathway.
Clearly, the Devils won’t lack for talent.
The Giants received even more draft concessions than the Suns, but the big change to the list build this time around is that the Devils will be made to trade some of their picks, rather than warehouse them all for youngsters.
The league wants Tasmania to off-load the picks for top-line mature players, so the Tassie team will hit the ground running, rather than get belted regularly across their first two seasons like the Giants.
Safe to say Tassie prodigies Colby McKercher (North Melbourne) and Ryley Sanders (Western Bulldogs) will be high on their wishlist.
McCann said the club was keen to perform strongly from year one.
“As a club we want to be strong on field and off field from the start,” McCann said.
“I think we have come out of the blocks from a membership perspective extremely strongly in two months.
“Certainly that will set the tone for our club and we want to make sure we are successful in every part of the organisation including our on-field performance.”
Of the 192,000 members, 110,000 are Tasmanian residents. Almost 40,000 are Victorian. Almost 80,000 are female, the club said.
The state has produced some of the greatest players in the game’s history, including Darrel Baldock, Ian Stewart, Royce Hart and Peter Hudson.
There’s also modern day greats Matthew Richardson and Nick and Jack Riewoldt, and they are all actively on board as part of the establishment phase business plan.
The plan is titled ‘Fans, Foundations and Facilities’, and the initiatives which fall underneath them are being prioritised accordingly and ticked-off in preparation for the new team entry and stadium to be constructed from 2029.
“We have really actively engaged with the alumni for many years and that has been during the taskforce and the bid to earn a licence, so that has been really important for us,” McCann said.
“We have also consulted with them on really critical decisions the club has made. It has been important for us to do that and do it well.
“We have had an amazing amount of support and I have been fortunate along with some of other directors to brief some of our icons and greats and the response we have received has been nothing short of extraordinary.”
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