One month into his new role as Tasmania Devils chief, Brendon Gale does not shy away from the unique challenges posed in running a football club without a football team.
“It’s hard,” admitted Tasmania’s new chief executive. “On the one hand you’re hard-wired to the cyclical nature of footy and I don’t have a dog in the fight right now.
Brendon Gale has started as CEO of the Tasmania Devils.Credit: Stephen Kiprillis
“But on the other hand we just have so much to do, and we are drinking from a water cannon. Or should I say a fire hose. Everyone comes to me for everything, and we actually haven’t stopped.
I was at the AFL last week and someone commented on the Richmond-West Coast practice game which was on. I didn’t even know they were playing. And I’m saying ‘we’ and ‘us’ a lot less about the Tigers as well.”
Gale, like his chairman Grant O’Brien, is refusing to buy into speculation that the AFL will push to postpone the Devils’ scheduled start date of season 2028 – until as late as 2030 – because of potential delays surrounding the completion of the new Hobart stadium.
Although Tasmania will head the agenda at Tuesday’s meeting between the head office and the club presidents, the commission has snubbed O’Brien. While Gale has been welcomed to club CEO talks, the Tasmanian chairman has not been invited to the presidents’ meeting.
The Devils too will hold their AGM next week and if the fledgling club and the AFL commission look headed towards a collision course over the timing of the 19th team’s entry into the competition Gale told this masthead: “It’s news to me. We’re starting in 2028. Every thought I have and every decision I make is with that date in mind.”
For a start, Gale has chosen to draw a line in the sand between his new club – the only one in the competition to represent an entire state – and Hawthorn, who last year signed a new $9.2 million eight-home-game deal with the Tasmanian government for 2026 and 2027.
Gale does not want to share the state with Hawthorn – who have won close to 75 per cent of their games in Launceston since 2001 – beyond 2027 and believes the Hawks’ latest multi-million deal with the government should be its last.
Although Hawthorn’s leaders have repeatedly left the door open to continuing the club’s lucrative long-term partnership with Launceston, Gale said: “At some stage, a line has to be drawn. My preference would be that we are the Tasmanian Devils and it’s our home”.
“They [the Hawks] have had a long and successful relationship with Tasmania. They’ve been good for the stadium, and they’ve been good for business,” he said. “But Tasmania has been really good for Hawthorn too. Ultimately, it will be a decision for the government and the board, but my wish is that there has to be a time when that comes to an end.”
Gale also revealed he plans to launch Tasmanian men’s and women’s teams into the VFL next year, and remains determined that the club’s historic AFLW side will debut before the men in 2027. And as debate intensifies over the club’s list build and draft concessions, the new Tasmanian boss said the club must have priority access to the entire state through its own academy.
“Our express wish would be to start next year,” said Gale of his push for 2026 VFL and VFLW sides.
“We don’t want to put our organisation under incredible pressure, but in VFL terms it’s worth it,” he said. “We will make mistakes, but this is one way of several to open a door to our AFL list. At the moment, there’s no pathway – one example of that is that there are 17 Tasmanians playing for Norwood this season.”
Gale wants the AFL to finalise its contentious list rules for the club by June or July at the latest, and he has prioritised the appointment of the Devils’ first football boss to oversee the list build and recruiting by April. Sign-on bonuses, father-son and daughter access to native Tasmanians, extra salary cap space and priority access to 17-year-olds remain in the mix.
His exit contract with Richmond dictates that Gale cannot for a period poach certain staff, notably his long-time football lieutenant Blair Hartley, who was part of the industry working party involving Tasmania’s list. He ruled out a senior coaching appointment until next year at the earliest.
Gale has said that Tasmania’s proposed concessions appear less generous than those afforded to Gold Coast and GWS. He believes Tasmanian sons and daughters should be allowed to choose between their AFL club and their home state: “What the threshold is I’m not sure, but what I do know is that the Tasmanians who have played at the highest level never stop supporting Tasmania.
“But what I feel strongest about is a state-based academy. I know they’re being criticised a lot at the moment, but let’s keep our own. This is a state with a rich sporting heritage, a rich artistic heritage and a rich history in entertainment. I’m sure we’ll get support for that until we start winning flags.”
Political unrest, negativity among AFL club presidents and the bureaucratic thicket surrounding the Macquarie Point Stadium and fears it won’t be completed until at least 2030 has led to serious pressure upon the AFL to delay Tasmania’s entry into the AFL, potentially by two years.
AFL chief Andrew Dillon launched the Tasmanian Devils in March this year.Credit: AFL Photos
The approval process for the new stadium will be completed between October and December this year.
“Whether or not it is behind time, there is a tolerance built into the delivery of the stadium,” said Gale. Under the contract, the state government must pay the club $4.5 million in 2029 and again in 2030 should the completion date blow out.
Against that, the University of Tasmania Stadium and its $130 million makeover will be ready, and that is where the club plans to host clubs such as Collingwood and Carlton in its debut season, with smaller games relegated to Hobart before Macquarie Point is finished.
AFL boss Andrew Dillon visited the Launceston stadium on Thursday, but has not been drawn publicly about delays to the start date of the 19th team.
The firm view of the board and its small but growing staff is that to delay the Devils’ entry into the competition would stop the momentum Gale described as infectious during his tour of the state and its communities over the past month.
More than 30 new junior teams will debut across the state in 2025. “The excitement is just incredible,” he said.
March 18 marks the anniversary of the club’s launch last year and a second $10 membership drive will focus on getting the club’s 206,000 foundation members to renew while also recruiting new members.
The membership coup was the brainchild of inaugural CEO Kath McCann, who was recently appointed the Devils marketing, public affairs and social impact boss.
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To date, Gale’s only other executive appointment has been Lauren Jauncey, a director of basketball’s JackJumpers, who will run the club’s strategy, people and culture.
“It’s infectious,” said Gale. “The community events, the town hall receptions – they don’t bring up the stadium and people don’t draw a distinction between us and AFL Tasmania.”
Key to it all will be the senior coaching appointment. Refusing to be drawn on potential candidates such as Chris Fagan, Nathan Buckley, John Longmire and Chris Scott, Gale says the Devils’ first coach must be strong on development.
Having already explained that the club’s inaugural coach must act as a mentor for the entire state, Gale pointed to Kevin Sheedy’s make-up as a strong characteristic of the profile he is seeking.
The board’s view is that Gale’s powerful local presence has made the AFL future for the club and the state a reality and that the forthcoming appointment of a list management and recruiting boss will only intensify that.
Meanwhile, Gale and his staff of nine are working out of AFL Tasmania’s Hobart offices before a scheduled move to Bellerive later this year.
He and wife Jane have bought a house in Battery Point, which is currently being rented, while Gale is renting an apartment nearby as he continues to tour the state and commute between his Brighton home in Melbourne while his son finishes school.
“It’s a weird feeling,” he said. “Over 15 years at Richmond you achieve a sense of order in your day-to-day working life. You know the history of the place and where the bodies are buried. This is so different. But it’s so exciting. It’s history-making.”
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