News

THE unique vagaries faced in leading the Devils are having a detrimental effect on coach Daryn Cresswell's game plan.

In the wake of the Devils' horrible 114-point thrashing at the hands of Werribee on Saturday, Cresswell said the "whole state" approach was causing headaches with his run-at-all-costs blueprint.

While Cresswell's predecessor Mathew Armstrong believed in the centralised system -- getting the majority of his team based in Hobart so the players could constantly train together -- Cresswell wanted to open the Devils up to the entire state by having regional training squads in the South, North and North-West.

This brought in an influx of players from northern Tasmania, but it has not brought results, with the Devils losing their past five games and sitting above last place by percentage only.

"It is pretty hard because obviously with the three regions I am finding it pretty difficult to deal with and it makes it very hard," Cresswell said.

But Cresswell still had faith in his game plan.

"At the present time, I think it is going to be helpful this game style, and it will help us get players drafted (to the AFL)," he said.

"But it is not what we are doing when we've got the ball, we have got no one who puts pressure on, apart from Leigh Adams and Brett Geappen.

"We refuse to run back, we refuse to put pressure on, we don't close down space.

"They close down our space and we turn it over, but we can't do it to them because we have got too many players who play uncontested footy.

"We have got too many selfish players."

Cresswell raised a few eyebrows pre-season in naming Scott Stephens as co-captain alongside Brett Geappen.

Stephens was not a part of the Devils last year and was only a fringe player during 2005 -- the Devils' last season as a stand-alone club before signing a partial alliance with the Kangaroos.

After a slow start to the season, the co-captain was dropped for Saturday's game.

"He has got great leadership skills and will put his body on the line," Cresswell said.

"He's been on and off the bench a bit and hasn't been playing much and lost a bit of confidence.

"I said to him to `go back and back yourself, chase the footy and get your hands on it and relish the contest again.'

"Because he's captain, he has put a lot of pressure on himself and I just wanted him to realise that.

"I think we will see a better Scott Stephens when he comes back into the side next week."

After Saturday's match, Cresswell bemoaned the lack of on-field leadership apart from Geappen.

Cresswell said that, as coach, it would be up to him to show the way.

"At the moment we haven't got the players who can do it, so I have got to be the one who stands up," he said.

"I have to remain positive because we are young and I still believe we have a lot of ability in the group."