News

From The Mercury
Reported by Brett Stubbs

AS AFL Tasmania deliberates whether to send the Devils off to play in the SANFL next season, the vast majority of southern footballers are adamant that the state should stick with the VFL.

And they are even more strongly in favour of calling an end to the Devils' partial alignment with AFL club the Kangaroos.

A Mercury exclusive poll of 65 Southern Premier League players shows 80 per cent want the Devils to stay in the VFL.

More than 90 per cent believe AFL Tasmania should cut all ties with the Devils' AFL affiliate and revert to a stand-alone club -- just as Tasmania was in its first five years, during which it made the finals three times in a row.

But the good news for AFL Tasmania is that despite the Devils' disastrous past two seasons and their Kangaroos partial alignment, there is still plenty of support for AFL Tasmania's flagship team.

Of the 65 players surveyed, 71 per cent support the Devils concept.

The survey also revealed 54 per cent of players support the reintroduction of a statewide league.

But the view was also aired that the simultaneous operation of the Devils and a statewide league would not be compatible.

"You cannot have both, it is either one or the other," one player wrote.

"They would compete with each other for money and media coverage."

But some players believe the lack of success in the Devils camp was not an indicator of the health of Tasmanian football.

"I don't think there is such a problem with the health of Tasmanian footy," one player said.

"It seems questions about it only come up when the arse falls out of the Devils.

"Nobody was asking these questions two or three years ago when the Devils were going well."