Trade talk: The out-of-favour ruckman the Devils should trade for

As the Tasmania Devils approach their inaugural season in 2028, the focus has turned to player recruitment, with talent scouting becoming the forefront ahead of the club's list build.

The club, led by CEO Brendon Gale, ticked off two major step in their roster construction, signing former Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley to a five-year deal to be the inaugural coach for the club in 2028.

Hinkley’s selection came as a surprise as former head coaches Nathan Buckley and John Longmire were favourites to coach the Devils in 2028.

Beyond Hinkley, the Devils also nailed down the acquisition of Geelong's development guru Nigel Lappin, set to head the Devils' development sector for the foreseeable future.

With Todd Patterson heading list management and Derek Hine leading the club's recruitment, the four gurus are set to commence the club's list build, with ample resources to play with ahead of their debut campaign.

The club has been gifted 14 draft picks across 2027-2029. These picks are conditional, with picks 5, 7, 11 and 13 in 2027 permitted only for trade purposes (as well as Pick 5 in both 2028 and 2029).

Turning their attention to player recruitment, rumours have already floated around some major stars, with GWS midfielder Tom Green, Collingwood’s Beau McCreery and Richmond's Rhyan Mansell all linked to the Devils' inaugural team.

Looking into the fledgling club's list strategy, Sam Edmund and Kane Cornes have explored potential recruitment strategies ahead of their 2028 entry.

“They would put their prized early picks up for sale, effectively, if it meant that they could get an established player into their club and that club would pay most if not all of the wage,” Edmund said on SEN’s Locked In.

“5, 7, 11, 13 in 2027 have to be traded out under the concession rule, Pick 5 in 2028 and Pick 5 in 2029.

“The gloves are off behind the scenes. They are battling to get players down there and they have to sweeten it.”

Cornes said: “When Finn O’Sullivan is turning down $15 million for eight years as a 19-year-old, that’s a bit of a warning.”

Edmund added: “The rival clubs I’ve spoken to said, 'You know why they are doing that; they are battling to get players down at the moment'.”

Cornes floated the idea of Fremantle’s Sean Darcy making the move to Tasmania for Pick 10 in a trade that would benefit both clubs.

“Fremantle would love to get that $900,000 off their books. They don’t need to be paying two ruckmen that much,” he said.

“Tassie could probably use skinny Sean as a big body in the ruck to get things going. Freo pay the salary, $700,00 of it, and they get Pick 10 in return... I don’t mind it.”

Darcy, 28, is contracted with Freo until the end of 2030.

He has spent the last few weeks playing for Peel Thunder in the WAFL.