Geelong CEO Steve Hocking has fired a subtle shot across the Bass Strait after Tasmania poached longtime Cats development guru Nigel Lappin.

Lappin has spent 18 years at Geelong and is often credited with the Cats’ uncanny ability to turn late draft picks into bona-fide AFL players, but is set to join Ken Hinkley at the Devils next year ahead of their entry into the competition in 2028.

Lappin has been widely regarded as the AFL’s best development coach for more than a decade and has previously knocked back significant offers to remain with the Cats. 

Carlton last year made a significant approach to Lappin to work alongside join his former Brisbane premiership captain Michael Voss. 

Crucially though, Tasmania “are under no strict guidelines or formal soft cap like the rest of the competition”, as reported by Mitch Cleary on The Agenda Setters last week.

“They will have to submit their funding and their wages to the AFL, but there is no black and white rule like every other club is submitted to when it comes to a soft cap for the Devils in 2027,” Cleary said.

In a pointed message that revealed a lot about what Geelong thinks of the Devils, Hocking said the Cats were effectively powerless to keep Lappin, who will be contracted with Tasmania until the end of 2031.

“It is such a good opportunity for Nigel and his family,” Hocking told K-Rock.

“He has a place in Bruny Island, that is his happy place. He has had that for a few years. Him and Kenny (Hinkley) are tight.

“He has signed for five years so we are really happy for him. I am not sure there is any soft cap down in Tassie so good on him, it’s a great opportunity.

“I don’t want it to be about potential salary or contract. His skills are so good. It will help set Tassie up and Kenny will need that support.

“It’s a greenfield set up and with Kenny and Nigel and (Devils Academy development coach) Matthew Knights, (so) why not come and get the very best person in development.”

The Devils will have the same soft-cap as the rest of the competition from 2028 onwards, but are not bound by the same rules for the next 18 months.

It means that, in theory, Tasmania could heavily front-end staff contracts until then, raising their average salary over the length of their deal to an astronomical number with which rivals simply couldn’t compete.

“I asked that question to all the parties today,” Cleary said last week of the possibility of front-ending staff contracts.

“They said that it would trigger red flags with the AFL, that if Ken Hinkley was front-ended all of his money into next year before they’re actually eligible to fall under the soft cap, then it would trigger some concerns with the AFL.

“But right now there are no hard and fast rules.”

St Kilda champion Nick Riewoldt — who was born and spent most of his childhood in Tasmania — said concerns from rivals won’t do much if there are no rules stopping the Devils.

But Cleary said the AFL do still hold the whip hand over the league’s newest club.

“The AFL essentially owns Tasmania and they run the license before the Devils enter the competition, so they could rip up their contract or force them down a different path,” Cleary said.

“But I’m sure the other clubs will have question marks, the fact that there is no soft cap next year for the Devils.”

Riewoldt added: “If you’re Tasmania, of course you’re going to use these loopholes.

“This was inevitable though. And Chris Scott and Geelong, they’re going to be the first in a long line of clubs that are going to be pissed off with Tasmania.

“Like, right now, everyone’s happy for Tassie, or most people are happy for Tassie, that they’re going to be entering the comp, but it’s going to change once they start coming for your people.

“This is just the start of it; they’re going to come for your staff. They haven’t even started coming for players yet, at least that we know of.”