The Tasmania Devils have taken another step into the national spotlight, with a bipartisan Parliamentary Friends group launched in Canberra ahead of the club’s AFL entry in 2028.
Federal Minister Julie Collins and Tasmanian Senator Richard Colbeck have been named co-sponsors of the inaugural Parliamentary Friends of the Tasmanian Devils group, launched alongside Devils CEO Brendon Gale and Tasmanian football great Jack Riewoldt.
Collins said the bipartisan support showed the strength of the Devils’ backing beyond Tasmania.
“The bipartisan support you see here for Parliamentary Friends of the Tassie Devils indicates just how big the support that the Tassie Devils will have, not just here in Canberra on the Hill, but right across the country,” she said.
The group is a forum for federal parliamentarians to support and engage with the club, with Collins also pointing to the team’s potential impact on Tasmanian football, the economy and young players.
“The Tassie Devils are important for Tasmanian footy.”
“They are important for the Tasmanian economy, but they are also important for the aspiration of generation of Tasmanian kids, boys and girls, to be able to play a league sport at a national level and represent their home state.”
Gale thanked Collins and Colbeck for their “enduring support” for the establishment of the team and their co-sponsorship of the new group.
He said the Devils had generated significant momentum but still had work to do before entering the AFL in 2028.
“We’ve got a long way to go before 2028 when our entry into the AFL begins,” Gale said.
“We’re a football club. Our responsibility is to build competitive football teams, both men and women, but we are extremely aware of the responsibility that we have within the entire state.”
The Canberra launch also turned attention to the timeline for the Macquarie Point stadium.
Gale said the club understood the stadium would be completed around the middle of 2030, with commissioning and testing to follow before it becomes available from round one in 2031.
In the meantime, the Devils will play at existing venues including UTAS Stadium in Launceston and Bellerive Oval.
Gale said the main challenge would be capacity, with the club expecting some supporters to miss out on games because of the size of existing venues.
“We’d prefer to have the stadium online at round 1 in 2028 and we’ve known for some time it won’t be,” he said.
“So when the stadium comes online in 2031, there’ll be another big sugar hit.”
“There’ll be so much anticipation, excitement again, so we don’t foresee any issues at all.”
Gale said the club also did not expect the stadium delay to affect its ability to recruit players, pointing to the 9000-square-metre high performance centre being built in Kingston as a key part of its offering.
