Tasmania is headed for part-time VFL campaign in 2026 playing against some of its AFL-aligned teams
The Tasmania Devils look set be to part-timers when the club enters the VFL next season. Here’s a run down of what to expect and who they could face.
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The Devils senior academy football program is done and dusted - next stop VFL in 2026 and a likely 10-game test against the competition’s “resting” AFL-aligned teams.
Tasmania men’s coach Jeromey Webberley confirmed talks were well under way between the Tasmania Football Club and the AFL about the Devils’ men and women’s entry into the second-tier Victorian competition next season.
Rather than a whole season, it is expected the Devils will step into the VFL on a part-time basis playing against some of the AFL clubs’ seconds when they are on a bye, opponents likely to include Hawthorn-aligned Box Hill, Melbourne-aligned Casey Demons, Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Footscray (Western Bulldogs) and Geelong.
The women look set to play seven games, also against the VFLW’s AFL-aligned clubs.
Both Devils men’s and women’s teams ended their academy campaigns with agonisingly close losses to the powerful Sydney-Canberra combined teams at North Hobart Oval on Saturday.
For Webberley, it was satisfaction of a job well done.
“What’s next? We take a bit of a spell, and I’m sure the players are keen for a bit of a break from the travel,” he said.
“It’s now in the hands of the AFL and our AFL club around what happens next.
“I know there are negotiations around what that looks like.
“It will play out as it plays out.”
In the lead-up to the joining the AFL and AFLW in 2028, the Devils were originally scheduled to join the VFL this year after the Tasmanian State League competition was terminated at the end of 2024.
However, the VFL entry was put back a season.
That inspired the introduction of the state senior academy programs for men and women to fill the “gap year” and discourage an exodus of the state’s top talent to other State Leagues.
The men’s and women’s teams played five games each over the past four months.
The squads now disband and players return to clubland.
“They will reconnect with their Premier League and Community League clubs and hopefully have really strong backs end to their seasons,” Webberley said.
“We want them to play really strong footy for their local clubs and bring some of the experience they’ve had of this tier two-level competition back to their clubs.
“That’s going to continue to enhance our community, our footy and our clubs.”
Originally published as Tasmania is headed for part-time VFL campaign in 2026 playing against some of its AFL-aligned teams
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