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Round 16 - The Tasmanian Coaching Race (27.06.26)

27 Jun 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What predictions can you make for the World Cup round of 32?

0.031 - 14.527

Think you can pick all the winners in the round of 32 of the World Cup? At worldplay.com, make your predictions for round of 32 and score a final match and you can win $20 million. Free entry at worldplay.com. Australia only, 18 plus, limited to first 500,000 entries. Maximum one entry per person, terms and conditions apply. New South Wales permit number TP slash 03783.

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14.547 - 16.169

ACT permit number TP26 slash 01370.

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16.529 - 19.092 Adam Simpson

Jeez, Tom, Tassie's going to be a good job, isn't it?

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19.112 - 28.495 Ken Hinkley

Tassie. Kenny, have you spoken to Tassie yet? Hey, is anyone else's line playing up? LAUGHTER Simmo teed me up for that. I did.

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29.196 - 31.198 Tom Morris

Come on. You're learning the media craft, Simmo.

Chapter 2: Why is the coaching position in Tasmania considered attractive?

31.438 - 32.739 Adam Simpson

It's nicely done. Read the article, mate.

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32.759 - 55.924 Tom Morris

You'll learn a bit. Can we talk about the Devils? So Brendan Gale's now accelerating this process. Ken Hinckley, I know he's sitting with us, but Ken Hinckley, Nathan Buckley, and also who's the other one we mentioned? John Longmire. And John Longmire are the three that have been mentioned there. I haven't been able to say that they haven't had a crack at a current coach at the moment either.

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55.904 - 77.09 Tom Morris

Now, Zanna McGuire reported last night that Brad Scott caught up with Brennan Gale this week to discuss a variety of issues. Now, my belief is that when Brad Scott extended at Essendon 15 months ago, part of the reason Essendon wanted to do that was to keep Brad Scott away from Tasmania. Because they believe Tasmania were keen on him as a senior coach.

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77.651 - 92.849 Tom Morris

Now, I spoke to Brendan Gale about that at the time. He said, no, I haven't spoken to Brad Scott. But that was certainly in the thought process for the Bombers. So they've liked Brad Scott, the person, for quite some time. He's not going to be the senior coach there. But who the footy boss is, is a big job. And we've spoken about that a few times as well.

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Chapter 3: What is Brendan Gale's role in the coaching search process?

92.949 - 97.955 Tom Morris

So they still have end of July as a timeline. That's not that too far away. So they'll have to get moving pretty quickly.

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97.975 - 103.562 Gerard Whateley

Brendan was really clear on 360 that's the end of the season. I asked him specifically, is it the end of July? And he said, no.

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103.542 - 105.324 Tom Morris

So why did he say that two weeks earlier then?

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105.645 - 116.78 Gerard Whateley

This is Wednesday night. So two weeks earlier. Yeah, but so he's updated the timeline. It's not the end of July. Okay, so end of the season. Just ask him straight out, is it the end of July? And he said, no, it'll be the end of the season.

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116.8 - 128.457 Adam Simpson

So how does that change things? Well, it could be waiting for someone who's coaching. That's right. Currently. But yeah, the field is quite narrow, isn't it? Because there's an experienced senior coach who's done it before is the criteria.

Chapter 4: Who are the potential candidates for the Tasmanian coaching position?

128.577 - 132.402 Adam Simpson

So it could be anyone from Fakes to Ken to Horse to...

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132.854 - 149.045 Tom Morris

That's interesting. So they've updated the timeline because it definitely wasn't that, except that it is now. And sorry I missed that on Wednesday night. No, he was really clear. So it hasn't got a month to run. He'll run it through to the end of the season. And does that mean he believes or the Devils believe they're not up against Carlton or Essendon for a coach?

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149.065 - 151.069 Tom Morris

They're looking for different coaches, different people.

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151.089 - 170.733 Gerard Whateley

I think they are secure in what they're doing. And I think they have a few good options in play. But he also hasn't got to the guts of the process. Whatever their process is, whatever that looks like, headhunt or... He's had the exploratory conversations, but not the next phase. Interesting. So it's seeing what the next phase is going to be.

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171.033 - 188.448 Tom Morris

Interesting. OK. I'm fascinated by that because I'm learning that now. And that's my bad for not seeing that on Wednesday night because they were consistent before then that, you know, they're going to get going now. And they had a board meeting to determine that a few weeks earlier. What does it mean for Nathan Buckley at Geelong?

188.588 - 207.834 Tom Morris

You know, what does it mean for any other senior coach that potentially is in the mix as well? So we talked about Sam Mitchell and with Ash Klein last night on AFL Nation, the Hawks CEO. And I said to Ash Klein, has Sam Mitchell told you he wants to stay? And he couldn't answer that question now. That's probably a bargaining tactic from Sam Mitchell as well.

207.854 - 215.815 Tom Morris

But I'm convinced that the Tassie Devils at some stage either have or will make contact with a senior coach and just scope out whether they're keen on that role.

215.845 - 229.021 Adam Simpson

Gerard, do you think everyone's holding off a little bit from the coaching decision-making because it's so early in the year? And what do you do if you make a decision in the next two weeks with everything that's happening? It's really awkward to a point in July.

229.041 - 237.692 Gerard Whateley

Yeah. You've got all these structures in place. You've got two regimes running concurrently. That's the oddity of what happened with Carlton Essendon. They opened up so quickly.

Chapter 5: What changes were made to the coaching timeline and why?

239.875 - 257.453 Gerard Whateley

And really that... That feels extremely unlikely. I mean, if you appointed the Carlton coach in July, you would hardly put him in above Josh Fraser now. You just let them be what they're going to be. Yeah. So, yeah, I think we're in much more of a rush than the clubs themselves.

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257.473 - 275.474 Adam Simpson

Yeah. And with the Tassie coach not being a coach for two years, what would be the expectations? Is it immediate? We've got, say, it's a Ken Inkley. Just imagine it. Oh, not Ken. Say it's a current coach. Yeah. Would that just be right from now on you're away or is there a bit of patience behind that?

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275.494 - 282.585 Tom Morris

No, I'd imagine when the coach gets appointed at the end of the season, they're the Tassie coach then because they've got to do lots of different things. And it's only one year. It's 2027.

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282.625 - 301.348 Gerard Whateley

They're going to have meetings right across the summer with every player trying to recruit and that sort of thing. So, yeah, you want them clear of their job in the same way as if they were coaching next year. The one bit about the Sam Mitchell scenario that – This just reiterates to me that the senior coach wave should be outside the soft cap.

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301.368 - 325.9 Gerard Whateley

There should be no limit on what Sam Mitchell can earn. So what's it at the moment, 20%? And I just can't fathom the best money a club spends is on their senior coach. You should so easily be able to retrieve that money through sponsorship. And we should not cap for all that the job entails. We should not be capping what Sam can earn because he does need the proper panel put together.

325.92 - 327.983 Gerard Whateley

And it would take all the stress out of the soft cap.

327.963 - 357.193 Gerard Whateley

because you would be able to spread your money beautifully across your assistant coaches and all the different layers to it whilst excluding the senior coach who could actually get to the business of earning the money that they should be paid within the game within the ecosystem of the game our best coaches should be earning two million dollars if the best not the best player if a player is earning two million dollars and the executives of the afl are earning two million dollars our best senior coaches who are the most pivotal figures in the industry should be earning two million dollars yeah

357.173 - 360.957 Gerard Whateley

So that's neither of you two are doing the job anymore.

361.158 - 383.063 Adam Simpson

What about the philosophy of... This changes. I might want to have a conversation, Ken. I've just woken up. I've just woken up. It does. It's an interesting piece. If you look at the top, say, West Coast, yep, no worries. We can afford to spend $4 million on a coach. Can the bottom financially insecure club do the same thing, I suppose, is the only question I'd have. And...

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