The Tasmania Devils have secured their first key coaching plank alongside Ken Hinkley, landing Geelong guru Nigel Lappin as the club’s inaugural head of development. Carlton last year made a significant approach to Lappin to work alongside join his former Brisbane premiership captain Michael Voss. Tasting flag success as an assistant coach in his first season at Geelong in 2009, Lappin has enjoyed a close bond with Lions premiership teammate Chris Scott since his arrival in 2011. Lappin is seen as being an instrumental in the growth of a long list Geelong diamonds in the rough including Mark Blicavs, Ollie Dempsey, Oisin Mullin and Tom Stewart. Be the first to know: Add 7NEWS as your preferred news source on GoogleLappin will also now link up with triple premiership Lions teammate Alastair Lynch who is the Devils’ football director.