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Sport Nation
King: Tassie must spend big to make Chris Scott their coach
SEN • May 26th, 2025 12:05 pm
Forget Nathan Buckley or Adam Simpson, the Tassie Devils must go after Chris Scott as their inaugural coach and club CEO Brendon Gale cannot take no for an answer.
With relentless focus on the Devils’ spend, what it will cost the taxpayer, and an eye-watering amount needed to pay for a new stadium, David King said the AFL newcomers cannot afford to skimp on the head coach.
Brendon Gale is overseeing the hiring process for the Devils and, having already brought in star recruiting pair Derek Hine and Todd Patterson, the focus has now turned to the top coaching job.
While a decision remains about 12 months away, King said there is only one man for the job.
“We have talked a lot about the status of the potential coaches for the Tassie team,” he said on SEN Fireball.
“We put Brendon Gale in charge of this campaign not to get the best available coach, but the best coach. The man.
“Hardwick was not initially available for the Suns and we have seen what he has done for this football club.
“He wasn’t necessarily the best available or if he was available, but right now, the cost of getting this club off the ground, the salary of the coach is the most important spend and the most insignificant margin of error.
“The gap between getting Adam Simpson – who has said he doesn’t want to do it – at $1 million a year and a Chris Scott at $2 million would be the cheapest gap of all time in this project.
“Get the absolute best, if the absolute best doesn’t appear available, make him available.
“Chris Scott is recognised as the best in the land.”
With Scott widely regarded as the best coach in the league given the work he has done at Geelong and the feats he has achieved, would he even be “gettable”?
“You go again and again and again and you don’t take no for an answer,” King said.
“That’s why Gale is in this position. You don’t go for what’s available you go for the best. You keep going until you find a way.
“This is the most important position, if we get this wrong the whole thing will be a disaster for a decade.
“I think Scott has built a culture that is the envy of the competition. The modern players love (him), we’ve seen what he’s done with Bailey Smith – even the nose beers discussion at the weekend – handled perfectly.
“Gale will have to make 100 phones calls to make this viable.”
