Yesterday marked a huge milestone in the construction of the Tassie Devils as an AFL club, appointing Ken Hinkley as their inaugural head coach.

The former Port Adelaide top dog has signed a five-year deal with the Devils who enter the league at the beginning of the 2028 season.

Tasmania have welcomed Ken with open arms, excited to have a coach with recent finals experience as he now packs his bags and moves down to Tassie with his wife, Donna – Hinkley declaring himself “a Tasmanian now”.

General Manager of Marketing, Public Affairs and Social Impact, Kath McCann, joined Sports Breakfast this morning.

“It’s been an amazing couple of days… we’ve just had a terrific time working alongside Ken and more broadly the community to obviously finalise his appointment, and then be able to share it with the world,” she said.

“For those who know Ken, he’s got a big, beautiful personality – very reliable and easy to connect with. And he talked to the Tasmanian people yesterday in a way that felt very, very connected.”

It is unlikely Hinkley will take over the VFL coaching role next year as the side gears up for the AFL.

McCann said the club are happy with the job Jeromey Webberley is doing – the Devils currently sit in eighth on eight wins and six losses with three games left to play for the home and away season.

“I think that one will be left to Jez, he’s doing a terrific job. I think hopefully you’ve observed from a far we’re doing really well in the VFL and W program.”

“I’d say that Ken will be involved. He’ll have his core focus on the AFL program, but not just the VFL and VFLW programs but the establishment of our academy as well. They’re going to be really, really important contributing factors to him getting where he wants to become in 2028.” 

With 216,000 founding members, Hinkley’s appointment is expected to boost memberships even more – the club launching their ‘Believers’ membership earlier in the year which has received just under 30,000 purchases.

Tasmania’s administrative and leadership roles are still far from filled yet – the General Manager of Football expected to be the next position appointed.

“Brendon [Gale] had always said publicly that he thought the GM of footy would come before the head coach… obviously, circumstances changed.”

“I think [it’s] fair to say that all of those conversations are underway with potential in all of those roles and I think we could expect the GM of footy will be a really key appointment sooner rather than later.”

Nathan Buckley now turns his focus to other coaching roles in 2027 – the Geelong assistant coach disappointed in not receiving the job at Tasmania but still left with an offer to stay with the Cats next year.

Carlton and Essendon are yet to find the right person for the job – Blues caretaker Josh Fraser keeping a cool head and denying any interest in a long term position at the helm after a strong 7-2 start to his tenure.

James Hird remains the frontrunner for the job at Essendon after he met with Bombers powerbrokers last Tuesday.

AFL journalist Mitch Cleary today aired however that the Bombers have approached Brisbane footy boss Danny Daly – the role still very much up for grabs.

Key figures of interest for Carlton are Corey Enright, James Kelly and Jaymie Graham – all of whom hold an assistant coaching role at St Kilda, Geelong and Fremantle respectively. 

IMAGE: Getty Images