News

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.

"The reality is, it hasn't achieved what we hoped it would achieve," Wade said.

"In my opinion, it is 50-50 whether we continue with it.

"In the end, we stand by those comments and understand what Daryn is saying.

"There will be no decision announced until the end of the year either way, but it will be made very quickly thereafter."

Cresswell presided over the Devils' eighth consecutive loss on Sunday, to Geelong by 72 points. This equalled the club's longest losing streak, a mark it set in 2001, its inaugural year in the VFL.

However, Cresswell vowed to ride through the tough times.

"It was probably the toughest day I've had in my coaching career so far," he said.

"It was quite frustrating. I have to remain positive because it is important for the young group that I do that. We are working very hard.

"I am committed to the players 100 per cent. We are all in it together. We lose, I lose, they lose."

Wade said AFL Tasmania had complete confidence in Cresswell despite the Devils sitting in last place with a 1-8 win-loss record and it will not be reconsidering his three-year contract at the end of this season.

"I think Daryn would be the first to acknowledge that he could have done better in terms of we really should have won more than one game of footy," Wade said.

"There is no question of that but we are very confident in the direction we are heading.

"We are committed to Daryn. He is contracted for three years and we are quite comfortable with that. We believe Daryn is the man to take us forward. We have got no problems with that at all."