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Important SN update for SouthlandThe text former Lion sent to McRae following Daicos' Devils revelation
Jaiden Sciberras • June 30th, 2025 8:00 pm
In preparation for their inaugural AFL season in 2028, the Tasmania Devils have already commenced a series of conversations surrounding future recruitment.
Head of Recruitment Derek Hine confirmed well over a month ago that a number of conversations had occurred between players and staff regarding potential interest in suiting up for the Devils, and as recently as last week, one of the superstars of the AFL revealed that he hasn’t ruled out a potential move down south.
When questioned on whether he’d be open to suiting up for the Devils, Collingwood’s Nick Daicos revealed: “I’d never rule anything out.”
“It’s hard to picture, obviously, it’s so far away – but I’m very happy at Collingwood now.
“It hasn’t crossed my mind that much. Tassie are a little while away, Hine has gone there which is great for him and obviously, his connection at Collingwood.
“I’m sure he’s scouting some players that he wants, but I’m fully fixated on staying at Collingwood for now and this year, more importantly.”
With Tassie set to have the capacity to offer major sign-on bonuses to lure top tier recruits, the comment from Daicos piqued the interest of Tasmanian board member and 300-game AFL legend Alastair Lynch, sparking a text to his former Lions teammate and the current Collingwood coach.
“It did generate a text from me to Craig McRae straight afterwards!” Lynch told SEN Tassie.
“That’s the exciting part; there’s opportunities out there for footballers, and there’s opportunities for our footy club, but again we’ve got to better present a compelling case.
“There will be opportunities to start with dollars for the marquee players, but you’ve got to be more than that. You’ve got to be able to sell a whole package.
“Athletes these days, they want to get fairly rewarded financially, but also, they want to be successful. They want to have hope that you’re going to be successful, and I think that’s an important part.
“We want to show anyone that we speak to that there’s hope for success, both on and off the field.
“We’ve got to be sustainable off the field - so financially, and that’s a really important factor - but also we want to be able to encourage those people that you will have first class coach, you will have great support all around the club for you and your family, and we want to be in contention as quick as possible, and successful.
“We’re seeing some examples around the league, clubs like Sydney and Geelong, these sorts of clubs reinvent themselves really quickly or regenerate to be successful and give hope to their supporters and players week in, week out and year in, year out.
“We want to be able to do that, and then off the back of that you might get someone like Daicos that might entertain coming down, or we grow our own Nick Daicos through the draft, or our academy, or our own father son rule.
“There’s lots of opportunities, but it sparked a few texts around the country for a lot of Tasmanians that Nick Daicos at least knows about us!”
