Tasmania Devils news

Northern base is possible: Cresswell

By Robbo July 07, 2007
From Launceston Examiner
Reported by Phil Edwards

AURORA Stadium could become the home base of the Tassie Devils next season, coach Daryn Cresswell said yesterday.

Speaking at the Devils' training session at the venue in preparation for today's clash against reigning VFL premier Sandringham, Cresswell said it was important for the team to have a central training base.

"The football department will meet with Scott Wade in the next few weeks to discuss a system whereby we can train together a bit more than we have done," Cresswell said.

"Aurora is definitely a chance because it's very accessible and we can get on here in the summer months because there's no cricket played here."

But Cresswell said he didn't have a particular preference for either Bellerive or Aurora.

"Whatever best suits the footy team in terms of the best training venue where everyone can get together is more important to me rather than where it's at," he said.

The bottom-placed Devils face a tough assignment in today's game against the Melbourne- aligned Zebras, who boast a potent forward line of Nick Sautner, Ezra Poyas, Ben Holland and Byron Pickett.

But Cresswell said he was more concerned about the Devils' effort than the result.

Devils welcome to Adelaide

By Robbo July 07, 2007
From The Mercury
Reported by James Bresnehan

THE door has been thrown wide open for the Tasmanian Devils to join the SANFL in 2009.

SANFL boss Leigh Whicker said yesterday his league liked the idea of having a team from Tasmania join the Adelaide-based competition to end the bye in the nine-team league.

Whicker said the SANFL would be prepared to meet all the Devils' travel costs and scrap their annual $85,000 VFL licence fee -- an overall saving of more than $330,000.

The South Australians put together an affiliation proposal and presented it to AFL Tasmania two weeks ago.

The SANFL then formed a working committee, which plans to meet with Tasmanian officials this month to discuss the proposition.

The SANFL chief's enthusiasm for Tasmania follows a survey of SANFL clubs that found eight out of nine captains favoured Tasmania joining the competition, and another that showed 79 per cent of SA fans felt the same way.

Devils made to apologise

By Robbo July 01, 2007
From Sunday Tasmanian
Reported by Brett Stubbs

SO ashamed and embarrassed by his team's performance, Devils coach Daryn Cresswell made his senior players front the media to apologise for the side's pitiful display against Bendigo at Bellerive yesterday.

In a season that many thought could not get any worse, the Devils' ineptness and uncompetitiveness plunged to levels not seen by a Tasmanian VFL team before on home soil.

Like naughty schoolboys, captain Scott Stephens, Ken Hall, Paul Koulouriotis and Bard Moran were marched out to try to explain the Devils' 10th consecutive loss.

What made this loss such a disgrace was the positive start in which the home side led by two goals in the second term, before conceding the next 15 without a score and eventually losing by 96 points, 22.13 (145) to 7.7 (49).

"We are embarrassed and sorry for our supporters who came today and paid their good, hard-earned money to watch us dish that shit up," Stephens said.

"Next time we play a home game down here, we will be playing with a spirit and fight for the contest. You have my word on that.

"You can tell by the amount of people we are getting through the gate (2152 at yesterday's game).

"A couple of years back in the Southern Stand there was people everywhere.

"Now they are walking out the gate at half-time because they are embarrassed and we are not doing anything to stand in the way to say `hey, stick around and watch us'."

Blame us, say coaches

By Robbo June 29, 2007
From The Mercury
Reported by Brett Stubbs

THE Devils' coaches have taken full responsibility for the team's plight -- including its club-record nine straight losses and its last-place standing.

Assistant coach Andrew Mellor said neither he nor head coach Daryn Cresswell would pass the buck.

"Myself and Daryn are not going to hide behind poor form," Mellor said, standing in at yesterday's press conference for Cresswell, who was on the North-West Coast.

"The buck stops with the coaches and we have to keep working just as hard as the players until we come up with the right mix. There is no doubt about it."

But Mellor said the staff members felt no pressure to hold their jobs.

"We have got the full support of the board here at Tassie and everyone knows while we can't accept losing that amount of games on the trot, there have been some circumstances that haven't always favoured us," he said.

"We are just thinking about the rest of this season and winning as many games as we can. We feel the pressure to win just as the players do."

Team with no beer

By Robbo June 28, 2007
From The Mercury
Reported by James Bresnehan

THE Tasmanian Devils are a club with no beer again after coach Daryn Cresswell enforced his third alcohol ban of the season.

 Not a drop of booze will pass players' lips until Cresswell and Co learn the cause of the Devils' second-half fade-outs this barren VFL season.

If they beat the Bendigo Bombers at Bellerive on Saturday, they can imbibe to their heart's content.

But if the fade-out persists, it could be a dry run to September.

"I imposed the latest alcohol ban after we lost to Geelong two weeks ago," Cresswell said yesterday.

"Our efforts in the second half of games have been very poor. We need to focus on our players' bodies and diets.

"We'll leave no stone unturned in our desire to get our fitness levels and preparation 100 per cent right. We've been falling away in the second half our our games -- that could be due to preparation and diet not allowing us to run out games.

"Over the next two weeks we will be taking skin folds and doing weight checks and looking after the body as well as we possibly can.

Cresswell shakes up line-up

By Robbo June 22, 2007
From Launceston Examiner
Reported by Phil Edwards

TASSIE Devils coach Daryn Cresswell yesterday made seven changes for Sunday's VFL match against the Carlton-aligned Northern Bullants as poor form and injury forced an overhaul of the Devils line-up.

With the Devils sitting on the bottom of the VFL ladder with just one win and having lost eight games straight, Cresswell said the game against the Bullants was a mini-final for his team.

He urged his players to throw off the shackles and take the game on.

"We've started playing too safe and are not prepared to take risks as we did early in the season - which is basically our game plan," Cresswell said.

"We're kicking down the line and not coming back through the corridor so - these are the sort of things we want to improve on this week."

Ninth on the ladder with four wins, the Northern Bullants have also been injury-depleted ahead of Sunday's match.

"They only kicked one goal to half-time last week and have been decimated by injury and struggling for the past six weeks like us - so this is probably our best opportunity to win a game," Cresswell said.

The Devils have lost full- forward Adam Derbyshire for a week with a minor hamstring strain while co- captain Brett Geappen could miss two weeks with a shoulder injury.

Ben Careless is unavailable with general soreness, while Tom Collier and Aaron Joseph will represent the Tassie Mariners in the national under-18 championships.

Jared Ryan and Cameron Thurley were omitted.

Tassie has priority over NT bid

By Robbo June 21, 2007
From Adelaide Advertiser
Reported by Doug Robertson

THE SANFL will not explore a suggestion to bring in a Northern Territory-based team until a prior commitment with the Tassie Devils has been fully explored.

The NTFL sent the SANFL and WA Football Commission an "information" document last month saying it wanted to field a NT representative team in the Adelaide or Perth-based state leagues.

However, AFL-Tasmania, the AFL and the SANFL are in discussions aimed at the Tassie Devils joining the SANFL in 2009 if it feels disadvantaged by the outcome of the AFL's review into football in Victoria.

SANFL chief executive Leigh Whicker said the league would not consider two proposals at once.

"We owe it to Tasmania. We've made a commitment to Tasmania and the AFL to look at the possibility of a Tasmanian team joining our competition," said Whicker, who has "kept the AFL fully briefed". "We respect the AFL-NT's initiative but you can't go down the track with another proposal until you've exhausted all options on the first one."

Devils coach hints at deal end

By Robbo June 19, 2007
From The Mercury
Reported by Brett Stubbs

DEVILS coach Daryn Cresswell has signalled the death of the controversial alignment with the Kangaroos, though officially it can only be killed by AFL Tasmania's board -- and not until after this season.

Cresswell would not come out and say directly whether the alignment should be terminated, but he left little to the imagination with his answers.

"It is not my decision to make," Cresswell said yesterday.

"It is very difficult when you haven't got the players in your backyard to work with. You would probably be able to assess an answer from that."

When asked if the alignment was affecting morale, Cresswell replied: "Tasmania's most successful year was when they were stand-alone, and they developed that spirit and that want to play for the jumper.

"I have mentioned Kenny Hall and Brett Geappen already (in the press conference). We need more players who wear the jumper with the same passion those two guys do.

"I will give a recommendation (to the board), there is no doubt about that.

"The board has been terrific in their support, and I think they know which direction we need to go in."

AFL Tasmania general manager Scott Wade said no new decision had yet been made on the alignment.

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