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Full Noise by SN
Perfect mould: Why Hodge approves of Tassie's Giant chase
Jaiden Sciberras • March 24th, 2026 5:31 pm
The Tasmania Devils’ primary target ahead of their inaugural season in 2028 has been revealed, and it may be the perfect acquisition to lead the club’s AFL debut.
As revealed in a Herald Sun report on Monday night, the Devils have pinpointed GWS superstar Tom Green as their number one target.
The 25-year-old, currently sidelined for the entire 2026 season with an ACL rupture, has been a stalwart within the Giants’ engine room since his draft year in 2020.
In 2024, Green finished sixth in the Brownlow Medal count, amounting 27 votes – the most by a Giants player in their short history. 2025 saw Green honoured with a club best and fairest, while also earning a spot in the All-Australian squad.
A superstar of the competition, Green’s current contract runs out at the end of 2027, entering the off-season as a restricted free agent - coinciding with the Devils' first official pre-season trade and acquisition period.
And according to Tim Watson, landing Tom Green would be a major coup for Tasmania.
“Yep, it is (the right call),” Watson told SEN Breakfast.
“You get everything with Tom. You get absolutely the rolled gold package with him. You get captain material, you get inside, you get a great solid citizen.
“I love Tom. I reckon that would be a win, big time, for the Devils.”
Alongside Watson, Hawthorn legend Luke Hodge also believes that Green would be an astute acquisition, particularly given his experience within a now-established expansion side.
“I don’t mind it,” Hodge told SEN’s Whateley.
“Obviously, his season is ruined this year with his knee, but he has been such a consistent, reliable player.
“Still got a bit of maturing to do, but you look at a bloke like that who you can build your side around – he is not the flairy one who will be up one week, down the next.
“He is a consistent performer, who has also learnt from a lot of mature blokes prior to him. What GWS were able to do in getting a lot of the senior guys when they first came into the AFL to be able to teach the rights and wrongs of being an AFL footballer, he has been able to learn from those kinds of guys.
“The Callan Wards and these kinds who – is probably up there with a Joel Selwood – you want to learn from those blokes out of anyone of our modern era. To have him have that understanding, I think it’s a smart move.
“I’d still be saving a little bit of money to throw towards a (Nick) Daicos or a (Sam) Darcy, someone like that who can put some bums on seats and turn a game at the drop of a hat.”
“It feels very Cal Ward, and it has that little dynamic of expansion team cannibalising expansion team, which feels a bit peculiar in its own right,” Gerard Whateley added.
Hodge: “I think a big part about that is, learn from the mistakes we did in the past.
“The Suns went to get the big names, the flashy stuff. The blokes they got were really good players, but you go in to get blokes that are going to build a side around you.
“I think Green fits that mould perfectly.”
