A public spat has erupted between two Australian Football League (AFL) leaders across Bass Strait, after Geelong Cats chief executive Steve Hocking launched a playful but pointed jab at expansion club Tasmania Devils over the latter’s salary cap arrangements, prompting a sharp rebuttal from Devils head coach Ken Hinkley.
The conflict traces back to last week, when the Devils poached Nigel Lappin, Geelong’s highly regarded player development guru, away from the Victorian-based club. Hocking, who has already faced public scrutiny in recent days over the ongoing Jake Kolodjashnij concussion waiver controversy, faced questions about Lappin’s departure during an interview on Melbourne radio station K-Rock.
During the interview, Hocking framed Geelong as unable to compete to retain the respected development coach, throwing in a veiled dig at the expansion club’s soft salary cap rules. “I’m not sure there is any soft cap in Tassie, so good on him, it’s a great opportunity,” Hocking said.
Hinkley, a former Geelong player and colleague of Hocking’s, hit back at the claims during his own appearance on SEN Radio Tuesday, pushing back firmly against the insinuation that the Devils broke league rules to sign Lappin. “He can be sure of one thing that we have rules to abide by, so there’s nothing to worry about there, Steve,” Hinkley said.
The Devils coach did acknowledge that the AFL’s expansion framework grants the new franchise temporary concessions as it builds out its operations ahead of its entry into the elite competition in 2028. Hinkley confirmed that Tasmania does hold a “little leg-up in the short-term”, explaining that the league has put in place specific provisions to support the relocation of key staff over the next 18 months as the club gets off the ground. He added that every AFL club holds autonomy to allocate its soft cap spending to priorities that fit its unique needs, and for a start-up expansion side like the Devils, investing in high-quality player development is an obvious strategic priority.
Crucially, Hinkley rejected Hocking’s implicit suggestion that the Devils overpaid to land Lappin, noting that the entire AFL community already recognizes Lappin as one of the top development specialists in the competition. “That’s not to say that we’re certainly overpaying Nigel Lappin. It’s been acknowledged by the rest of the competition that Nigel is one of the absolute best in development,” Hinkley said. “So if you’re prioritising development, which we will be, it makes sense to invest in that area.”
The temporary soft cap concessions for Tasmania will expire in 2028, when the Devils join the AFL competition and their annual soft cap will be adjusted to match the same cap limit applied to every other existing club in the league.