The possible return to the Essendon senior side of Ramanauskas has been a talking point this week, but the man himself is content to bide his time in the VFL with Bendigo.

Ramanauskas has made an inspirational return to football this year as an Essendon rookie after enduring a recurrence of cancer in his neck and a serious knee injury in the past two years.

The 26-year-old member of Essendon's 2000 premiership side has played five games with Bendigo this season, and is relishing the chance to just be back out on the football field, even if it's at the Queen Elizabeth Oval, rather than the MCG or Telstra Dome.

'‘It's just enjoyable playing footy again, to be honest," Ramanauskas told The Advertiser yesterday.

‘‘Things are going along okay; I'm just trying to do my part and not let down the younger fellows.

‘‘Being one of the older guys, I have to show a bit of experience out there and try to help them out as much as I can.

‘‘At the same time, I'm competitive like everyone else and I want to win.

It will be Lonergan's comeback match after life-saving surgery last year to remove a kidney destroyed in a courageous marking attempt against Melbourne in round 21.

Now the Devils coach, Cresswell, a former assistant coach at Geelong, was mentor to Lonergan when he arrived at the "Cattery".

Lonergan, a 23-year-old forward who has played just seven senior games, will wear a custom-made back guard to protect his remaining kidney.

"It will give me the confidence to back into the packs," Lonergan said yesterday.

"It's pretty thick and hard, so I don't think the same thing will be able to happen."

The Cat should expect no favours from the hard-hitting Tasmanians, renowned for their hard tackling.

THE Tassie Devils would take a couple of years to be fully competitive if it joined the SANFL in 2009, AFL-Tasmania general manager Scott Wade said.

AFL-Tasmania - which lost to developing Aussie Rules state Queensland by 11 points on Saturday - is investigating its long-term future which might lead to becoming the 10th SANFL club.

Tasmania had 16 Devils players in the team that lost to Queensland but no AFL-listed players.

Seated among the top-five VFL clubs in 2004-05, the Devils have one win and sit bottom of the VFL ladder this year.

Aligned with the AFL Kangaroos, the Devils are obliged to play over-flow Roos players and have not recruited star players from outside Tasmania in the past few seasons.

Tasmania upset the SANFL by 15 points in 1995. West Adelaide, bottom in the SANFL, lost by seven points to Tasmania in a trail in March.

TOM Lonergan will complete his courageous comeback when he runs out with Geelong's VFL team on Sunday.

The 23-year-old was yesterday given the final all-clear from Cats' medicos after a life-threatening injury late last season.

Lonergan was playing just his seventh senior game against Melbourne in round 21 when he backed into a pack, resulting in internal bleeding and the eventual removal of a kidney.

He spent five days in an induced coma and lost 16kg, before making the decision to play on. He was delisted by the club at the end of last season but re-drafted as a rookie.

Coach Mark Thompson yesterday paid tribute to Lonergan's courage, saying it would provide extra motivation to his teammates this weekend.

``Everyone's very proud of what he's done and they're really happy to have him around here,'' he said.

``They think it's a gutsy effort to want to play and to force his way back to the level of fitness to be able to take the field this week. It is a sensational effort.

``I'm not sure once the game starts whether it'll have much effect but I think in the lead-up (it will).''

Thompson said he did not have  an opinion one way or the other whether Lonergan would make it back, but said the defender  had a lot of family and friends rally around him since the incident.

While the seniors sit top of the ladder and are firming for AFL flag favouritism, the Cats' VFL affiliate is travelling just as smoothly.

After nine rounds. Geelong sits second behind powerhouse Sandringham, although the Cats are coming off a loss last weekend to Werribee.

The Devils' Origin defeat at the hands of Queensland will no doubt further erode confidence in Daryn Cresswell's men, who will need to be on song to return to the winners' list.

In their favour is a decent record at Skilled Stadium, where the Devils won in 2005 and went down by a kick last season.

A former assistant coach at Geelong, Cresswell will be passing on vital inside information as his players prepare to tackle a side which last week contained 20 AFL listed players.

"We just need to come up with tactics in terms of playing against AFL-listed players," Cresswell said.

"We have to pick a side able to run, the ground is similar to Aurora Stadium and we will go into the game with a side we think can cover the ground and play good hard competitive footy."

SANFL clubs have encouraged the league to "investigate" the prospect of inviting the Tassie Devils to join the SA competition in 2009.

The push is gaining momentum on both sides of Bass Strait with the SANFL sending "preliminary" costings of fielding a team in the country's best state league to AFL-Tasmania.

There is yet to be a formal meeting between the state league boards although AFL-Tasmania GM Scott Wade visited West Lakes for informal talks recently.

The Devils - affiliated with the VFL for eight seasons and aligned to the Kangaroos - won't make a move in deciding their future until the findings of the AFL's review of Victorian football is released, probably at the end of this season.

Wade said his league was "very interested" in considering joining the SANFL, depending on how the AFL review impacted on Tasmania. He said a move would have to be financially sustainable.

"If we are going to do this, we wouldn't be doing it for five minutes, we'd be there forever," he said.

VFL general manager Peter Schwab says the Devils are "very much" wanted in Victoria. But the AFL clubs would have huge input to the findings which are supposed to regenerate football at all levels in Victoria.

After trailing by five points at the midway mark of the third quarter, Bendigo dominated from there on.

The hundreds of fans at the traditional Queen's Birthday holiday weekend clash included Essendon captain Matthew Lloyd.

On-field it was a spin out of a tackle by Bendigo captain Simon Rosa to snap a right-foot goal at the 17-minute mark of the third term that put the red and black back in front.

In a matter of minutes the lead was 21 points after Grant Weeks was on the end of a Chris Heffernan pass, Kepler Bradley was free in a marking contest.

A crucial target in the Bombers' attack, Bradley then passed to an unguarded Kyle Reimers in the goalsquare to complete the hat-trick of goals.

The Bombers' turnaround could be attributed to many factors, but one of the most telling was Lachlan McKinnon's tap-outs at the centre bounces.

Bombers' team-mates Ricky Dyson, Heffernan, Jay Nash, Sam Lonergan and Adam Ramanauskas continually put the ball inside the 50 m arc.

When Box Hill did go forward they often found Courtney Johns, Andrew Lee and Richard Cole in the way.

Brown, returning after complications to a broken leg, had 12 disposals and kicked two goals in about 60 minutes of game time at Coburg City Oval. He was rested for the last quarter.

He looked lively and used the ball well but is expected to line up again with Coburg in Round 10 on Sunday against Frankston.

"To step up after last week (50 minutes in Coburg reserves) was good," Brown said.

"I slipped over a couple of times but I was pretty happy with it.

"I'm not sure what the program is. I will speak to the coach and fitness staff and see what they think."