FORMER Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley will be the inaugural senior coach of the Tasmania Devils.

AFL.com.au's Cal Twomey has confirmed Hinkley has won the race to be the club's first ever coach, with the club to formally announce the appointment with a press conference in Hobart at 11am AEST on Monday.

The other leading contenders for the role, former Sydney coach John Longmire and ex Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley, were being informed of the club's decision on Sunday.

Hinkley coached Port Adelaide from 2013 to 2025 and walked away with an excellent winning record of 58.6 per cent, having guided Port to 174 victories from his 297 games in charge.

The Devils will enter the AFL in 2028 and have been granted a host of generous draft concessions to ensure they will be competitive from the get-go.

Among those concessions, Tasmania will get picks No, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13 in the 2027 national draft, but they must trade picks 5, 7, 11 and 13 to other clubs for either players or other draft picks.

They can also sign up to 18 uncontracted players from rival clubs across 2027-28, with a maximum of one player per club.

Tasmania is currently in eighth spot in the VFL, having posted eight wins, six losses and a draw in a promising campaign to date.

The Devils aren't the only club closing in on a new coach.

Essendon is narrowing down their search for Bradd Scott's replacement, while Carlton is also on the lookout for a new coach after parting ways with Michael Voss earlier this year.

Buckley is set to remain an assistant at Geelong next year after being overlooked for the Devils role, while premiership coach Longmire will be heavily linked with any senior job arising over the next 12 months.

Longmire met with the Devils a fortnight ago in what he described as a fact-finding mission.

He remains at Sydney as the club's director of club performance, exiting the senior coaching role after the Swans' 2024 Grand Final humiliation against Brisbane.