Ken Hinkley's Biggest Job Isn't Coaching, It's Building Tasmania

Jared Duggan

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Last updated: Tue 21 Jul 2026 08:13

Jared Duggan 4 minutes ago

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Ken Hinkley's Biggest Job Isn't Coaching — It's Building Tasmania

Ken Hinkley will forever be remembered as the first senior coach of Tasmania's AFL club. It's a historic appointment for a state that has spent decades fighting for its place in the competition, but the significance of his role stretches far beyond the coach's box.

Ken Hinkley's Biggest Job Isn't Coaching — It's Building Tasmania
Building A Club Before Building A Team
Tasmania's Greatest Strength Is Its Community
He Already Sounds Like A Tasmanian
The First Coach Shapes Everything

His greatest challenge won't be designing game plans or recruiting star players. It will be helping shape the identity of a football club that has never existed before. Before Tasmania can become a successful AFL team, it needs to become a club that players want to join, supporters feel connected to and the entire state can proudly call its own.

Listening to Hinkley's first press conference, it quickly became clear that he understands exactly that.

Building A Club Before Building A Team

One of the most impressive aspects of Hinkley's introduction was what he chose to focus on. Rather than talking about premiership windows or chasing the biggest names in football, he repeatedly returned to the importance of people. Character, family and culture were recurring themes, making it clear that the type of person Tasmania recruits will matter just as much as the footballer.

That's a smart approach for an expansion club.

Every player who joins the Devils over the next few years will help define what the club stands for. They'll establish the standards that future generations inherit, and those first decisions will have a lasting impact long after the inaugural list has moved on.

Talent can help you win games, but culture is what determines whether success lasts. Hinkley has spent more than two decades inside AFL systems and appears determined to ensure Tasmania starts with the strongest possible foundations rather than chasing short-term results.

Tasmania's Greatest Strength Is Its Community

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from Hinkley's first public appearance was his appreciation of Tasmania's football culture.

Rather than trying to turn the Devils into another corporate AFL club, he spoke about community, local football and the unique connection Tasmanians have with the game. It was a refreshing message because it recognised something many people outside the state still fail to understand.

Tasmania doesn't need to imitate the biggest clubs in Melbourne.

Its greatest advantage is that football already sits at the heart of communities across the island.

Every weekend, volunteers, families and lifelong supporters gather at local grounds from one end of the state to the other. That passion has existed for generations, and it's something no amount of marketing can manufacture.

Instead of changing that identity, Hinkley appears intent on embracing it.

If the Devils can maintain that community connection as they enter the AFL, they won't just become another expansion club. They'll become a football club that genuinely represents an entire state.

He Already Sounds Like A Tasmanian

Sometimes it's the smallest details that reveal the most.

Throughout his first press conference, Hinkley consistently referred to Tasmania as "we" and "us". For someone who had only just been announced as coach, it was a subtle but telling sign that he had already bought into the vision.

He also wasted little time challenging outdated perceptions about Tasmania. When discussing player attraction, he pointed to clubs like Geelong as proof that footballers will happily relocate if the environment is right. More importantly, he highlighted the incredible support already shown by Devils fans, noting crowds of around 15,000 people at VFL matches while many mainland games attract only a fraction of that number.

Those comments showed he had done more than accept a coaching role. He had taken the time to understand why this football club already means so much to Tasmanians.

That matters.

Supporters don't just want someone coaching their club. They want someone who genuinely believes in what they're building.

The First Coach Shapes Everything

Every football club is influenced by its first coach.

The systems they introduce, the standards they demand and the culture they create often outlast their tenure. Future coaches may change tactics or playing styles, but the identity established in those early years usually remains.

That's why Hinkley's appointment feels so significant.

He isn't inheriting a football club with 100 years of history behind it. He's helping create one from the ground up.

There will be enormous pressure to deliver results when Tasmania eventually joins the AFL, but success shouldn't only be measured by wins and losses. If Hinkley can build a club that players are proud to represent, one that reflects Tasmania's football culture and gives supporters a genuine sense of ownership, he'll have already achieved something remarkable.

Premierships may define great teams.

Culture defines great football clubs.

And that's the foundation Ken Hinkley has been entrusted to build.