Former Sydney premiership coach John Longmire has confirmed he has held talks with the Tasmania Devils about becoming their inaugural AFL coach but has played down suggestions he is the frontrunner for the job.
Longmire, who left the Swans at the end of 2024, said he was “among many people in the industry” to have spoken with Devils chief executive Brendon Gale a couple of weeks ago.
“But that has been quite open, as far as Tassie are concerned, as well,” Longmire told Fox Footy’s AFL 360 on Wednesday night.
“They’ve spoken to everyone in the industry, I was one of them.”
The 55-year-old said there were plans to resume talks with Gale and the Devils but rejected the idea he was “all in” on pursuing the role.
“It’s not at that point, as far as I’m concerned or Tassie are concerned,” he said.
“It’s a bit too early to be going with headlines like ‘all in’.”
Longmire guided Sydney to seven top-four finishes, 12 finals campaigns and four grand finals.
He had been non-committal about a coaching return after passing on openings at Carlton and Essendon.
Ken Hinkley and Nathan Buckley have also been linked to the Devils role.
The Devils said they have set up a nominations committee to lead the search for their first AFL and AFLW coaches.
The committee includes board chair Grant O’Brien, board member and AFL Tasmania Hall of Fame member Alastair Lynch, Gale and general manager of people and culture Lauren Jauncey.
“The club is targeting the appointment of its men’s senior coach by the end of the 2026 AFL season, with the women’s senior coach to follow by the end of this calendar year,” a club spokesperson told Pulse.
“The Tasmania Football Club Board will make the final decision on all senior coaching appointments.”
Lynch refused to confirm the club’s link to Longmire when asked on Fox Footy’s AFL Tonight.
“As you’d expect, I won’t be giving a running commentary on how the process is going,” Lynch said.
“But things are proceeding quite well and we hope to have an announcement by the end of the season on who will coach the Tasmania Devils for the first time.”
Lynch said there were “a number of outstanding candidates around the country” who would be well suited to leading the team into the 2028 season.
“Any one of them could do a fantastic job for Tassie,” he said.
