No Daicos or Darcy: Tassie say they won’t target contracted stars

Tasmania won’t be pursuing star contracted players ahead of their entry into the competition, reports AFL.com.au's Cal Twomey.

Armed with 11 first-round draft picks over their first three years as well as other salary cap concessions ahead of their 2028 arrival, many expected the Devils to be chasing the likes of Nick Daicos, Sam Darcy and Finn Callaghan, who are all contracted until 2029 or beyond, to be the face of the new club.

While Tassie will no doubt still be chasing stars of the game, Twomey revealed that they’ll instead be putting their focus into free agents and players out of contract, ensuring they keep hold of most of those first-round picks to build the nucleus of their side going forward.

“Tasmania tonight has all but ruled out chasing contracted players over the next two years,” Twomey told Nine’s Footy Classified.

“Let’s get into the details here, because the Devils have a stack of draft picks over the next few years.

“This applies to the likes of Nick Daicos, Sam Darcy, Finn Callaghan and Harry Sheezel. All contracted until 2029 or 2030.

“The Devils have basically said, ‘We’re going to be going after players out of contract’. It’s all but ruling out these pursuits, which is pretty significant and the strongest they’ve been.

“Basically, we hear from Todd Patterson (Tasmania list manager), that it’d be highly unlikely at this point in time (going after contracted players). ‘It’s a clear priority for us to hit the uncontracted and free agent market’.”

Daicos was the main name linked to Tassie, with many seeing similarities between Gold Coast luring Gary Ablett Jr north and the Devils potentially doing the same thing with the Collingwood star.

While that chatter hasn’t slowed down in the media until now, Twomey has noticed a change of tune from Tasmania themselves around the Magpies star.

“In terms of Daicos specifically, he’s been the player that’s been linked a lot over the last few months,” Twomey said.

“I think we’ve heard the tone change a bit in recent weeks from Devils CEO Brendon Gale. In recent interviews, he’s sort of distanced himself.

“They just don’t want to put three, four or five picks on the table (for one player), given that’s going to be the nucleus of their list.

“Yes, he’s contracted until the end of 2029, and because of that… that’s not going to be on their radar.”

If not Daicos, then who will Tassie target to lead their entry into the competition? According to Twomey, he thinks the club could instead look at how GWS built from the ground up, by bringing in experience and younger players who don’t cost them at the trade table.

“I’m not sure they go down that route (face of the franchise),” Twomey said.

“I think they look more at the sort of GWS example where you can go for players such as Logan Morris, who can get a lot more than he’s being paid at the Brisbane Lions.

“Then there’s Tom Green, the free agent next year.

“They’re a couple of the names, but those guys you see (Daicos, Darcy, Callaghan, Sheezel and Isaac Heeney), they’re unlikely to feature because they’re not going to pursue them.”

Key players who are out of contract at the end of 2027

Izak Rankine (Adelaide)
Logan Morris (Brisbane)
Patrick Cripps (Carlton - unrestricted free agent)
Zach Merrett (Essendon - unrestricted free agent)
Alex Pearce (Fremantle - unrestricted free agent)
Jeremy Cameron (Geelong)
Matt Rowell (Gold Coast - restricted free agent)
Noah Anderson (Gold Coast - restricted free agent)
Lachie Ash (GWS - restricted free agent)
Tom Green (GWS - restricted free agent)
Will Day (Hawthorn - restricted free agent)
Mitch Georgiades (Port Adelaide - restricted free agent)
Sam Lalor (Richmond)
Jack Sinclair (St Kilda - unrestricted free agent)
Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera (St Kilda)
Chad Warner (Sydney - restricted free agent)