Scott Clayton waited 30 years to join Tasmania’s AFL team and is itching to build a winning team
Gun recruiter Scott Clayton ready to dive into the job he has waited 30 years for. The Tasmanian outlines what type of players the Devils need to make them an instant success.
Tasmania Devils will use their AFL Draft concessions to target marquee players ahead of their AFL debut in 2028 but the club’s newest recruiter Scott Clayton says kids around the state should get excited about the opportunities that are about to fall into their laps.
The man who drafted Jason Akermanis twice joined head of recruiting, Derek Hine, and list manager and fellow-Tasmanian Todd Patterson, as the men who will put together the Devils inaugural team.
Clayton, 65, was a Hobart premiership player in 1980 and won Fitzroy’s best-and-fairest award in 1990 before transitioning to recruiting post-career.
Considered one of the best in the business, Clayton’s specialty for Tasmania will be to identify the teenage talent that will blossom into senior players by the time Tasmania hits the field.
After a 160-game career with Fitzroy between 1981-1990, Clayton started his recruiting career with Brisbane Bears, who turned into the Brisbane Lions, where he stayed for a total of 18 years.
He went to the Western Bulldogs for 10 years, West Coast for five years and recently resigned from North Melbourne after five years at Arden Street.
Clayton hoped the Tasmania role would eventually come.
“I’ve been waiting for this for 30 years,” Clayton said.
“It’s great Tasmania have got a team, we deserve it, and we will represent our state magnificently.
“It’s been a long time coming but here we go _ it’s very exciting.”
Clayton, who played in Tasmania’s historic state-of-origin win over Victoria at North Hobart Oval in 1990, said when he was approached by the Devils he was ready to dive in.
“It was always in the back of my mind that if we got a team, I’m in,” he said.
“Right back when we beat Victoria in 1990, the players in that team were talking about it [a Tasmanian team] then and the question went around that if we get a team who’s in?
“Almost 100 per cent of the players that day said they were in, very few people said no _ I remember that vividly.”
When Tasmania lines up for its inaugural AFL Draft in 2027, it will be like Christmas for Clayton, Hine and Patterson.
“There’s two parts to that – we’re starting to jump into the 16-year-olds now and then as the years go on 17 and 18, and we will be scouring the country for them,” Clayton said.
“We are also looking at the mature-age players and the listed AFL players to be scouted by us.
“There will be great opportunities there’s no doubt about that.
“I think we will have to bring in some established, mature-age players, that will be part of the list built.
“The excitement is everywhere _ it’s in the youth, it’s in the draft-age youth, it’s in the mature AFL players who have played a lot of games.”
Clayton’s role will be to identify the next big think among teenagers everywhere.
“I’m more in the junior-age bracket, and there’s a lot of work to be done in that space,” he said.
“More importantly, we’ve all got to buy in and produce more Tasmanian players.
“There are so many opportunities coming for young Tasmanian men and women.
“If you are 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 right now, the opportunities are there so reach out and get into being a professional athlete and give it a go.”
Originally published as Scott Clayton waited 30 years to join Tasmania’s AFL team and is itching to build a winning team
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