Reported by Phil Edwards
THE pride, passion and 2007 finals hopes of the Tassie Devils will be on the line when Tasmania takes on the Coburg Tigers in their round seven VFL clash at Bellerive Oval tomorrow.
Coming off last week's humiliating fifth-straight loss to Werribee and crisis meetings during the week, Devils coach Daryn Cresswell said yesterday that he was happy with the commitment his players had shown during a tough week on the training track.
"It's been a tough week for everyone including the players, and they aren't happy with the position we're in," he said.
"We've approached things a bit differently this week and have concentrated on the defensive side of our game with a lot of tackling and physical pressure in the hope we can turn around our poor performances this week.
"This is a must-win game - if we do not win this game, we will not play finals footy."
Cresswell said he had spoken to his leadership group this week about lifting their performance.
"We're a young list and I hand-picked the leadership group because I thought they had the potential to lead us into the future," Cresswell said.
" I told them I am 100 per cent behind them - but they need to stand up and be counted and lead by example, and basically they haven't been doing that."
Kangaroos ruckman David Hale will be a welcome inclusion into a Devils line-up that has struggled to find tall forward marking options.
But the Devils lost centre half-forward Brad Moran to the Kangaroos' senior side.
"I'm happy to have David in the side because of his experience in the ruck and he will be hard to match up on when he plays forward," Cresswell said.
Northern Bombers half-forward Leigh Harding will join teammate Jarrod Ryan for his first Devils game.
"I've wanted to get Harding in for a while because he is very quick and skilful and can kick goals, and an opportunity came up this week," Cresswell said.
Co-captain Scott Stephens will miss with a calf injury and Sam Whish-Wilson is out with a sore shoulder.
Greg Sharman and James Armstrong were omitted.
