The status of the new club and its stadium.
The Tasmania Devils — the AFL's 19th licensed club — remain on track to enter the competition in 2028, but the political and financial fight over the Hobart stadium at the heart of the deal is still unresolved and continues to shape every debate in Melbourne football circles.
The AFL granted Tasmania a conditional licence in May 2023. The central condition: a new roofed stadium at Macquarie Point in central Hobart, funded jointly by the Tasmanian Government, the Commonwealth and the AFL, with an opening target of the 2029 season. The Devils will play their first season in 2028 out of an upgraded Bellerive Oval and York Park (Launceston), then move into Macquarie Point when it opens.
Macquarie Point was approved through Tasmania's Project of State Significance process in late 2024, with legislation ratifying the approval passing narrowly. Cost estimates have blown out from the original $715m to about $945m, driven by escalating construction costs and site remediation. The Commonwealth's $240m contribution is confirmed; the AFL is contributing $15m plus $12m per year in operating support.
Opposition to the stadium is bipartisan in the community sense: Greens and independents oppose it outright, sections of Labor are uneasy, and a small but vocal faction of the Liberal Government has publicly questioned the fiscal case. A parliamentary majority for the funding envelope was only secured after a last-minute deal with independents on affordable-housing commitments at the site.
The Devils will play at least four home games per season at the MCG or Marvel Stadium — a revenue arrangement that gives all ten Melbourne clubs a share of gate takings. But the addition of a 19th team fundamentally reshapes the fixture. Every Melbourne club will play the Devils at least once per year; some rivalries will get less airtime.
Talent flow is the bigger structural question. Tasmania secures priority draft access and academy zones that draw from northern Tasmania and, controversially, parts of Victoria's south-west. Recruiting managers at Melbourne, North Melbourne and the Bulldogs have all publicly flagged concerns that the geographic overlap will thin talent for the smaller Victorian clubs.
Foundation coach Craig McRae — poached from Collingwood after his 2023 premiership — has been building the football department for eighteen months. The list is being assembled through a combination of pre-draft signings, priority picks in the 2027 and 2028 drafts, and trade-period business. Uncontracted stars from Melbourne clubs are being courted; retention deals at Carlton, Essendon and St Kilda have been front-loaded in response.
Public opinion in Melbourne is mixed. Traditionalists welcome the return of a Tasmanian side after the loss of the Tigers in 1996. Others argue an 18-team competition already stretched fixture equity and questioned whether the AFL's per-game grant to Tasmania is a good use of the code's national development pot. The AFL Fans Association has campaigned for guaranteed access to Devils home games at the MCG.
Construction milestones at Macquarie Point through 2026 and 2027, the outcome of the 2027 national draft (Tasmania's first with priority selections), the coaching-department poaches heading into 2028, and any further cost escalation on the stadium build. The AFL has been clear: no stadium, no licence. The politics remain live.