May 17, 2007
From The Mercury
Reported by James Bresnehan
Reported by James Bresnehan
EVERYONE from the chairman to the boot studder took responsibility yesterday for the Tasmanian Devils' woeful winter, but the biggest blame went to one particular bunch -- the leadership group.
Their ears were ringing after the bake Devils coach Daryn Cresswell gave them on Monday night before flogging the entire squad on the training track.
The seven senior players -- co-captains Brett Geappen and Scott Stephens (dropped last Saturday), Paul Koulouriotis, Cameron Thurley, Nathan Street (also dropped), Ken Hall and Matthew Westfield (dropped) -- took the brunt of Cresswell's frustration from a 1-5 start.
"When you become a leader, there's an expectation there that you deliver," Cresswell said. "Unfortunately, our leaders haven't done that."
When asked how firmly he spoke to the seven, Cresswell said, with furrowed brow: "I got my message across."
The leadership group is just as sorry about the Devils sitting second-last on the VFL ladder.
"They're not happy with the position we're in either," Cresswell said.
The bottom line is that we expect and demand from them that they lead a very young group out of the position we are in at the moment.
"That's a responsibility they are going to take onboard.
"This weekend is a very important game for us against Coburg at Bellerive, to start that process in place."
The loss of several experienced players from last year's side, a new game style and a young group still learning its craft have all added up to a slower-than-expected start to the 2007 season.
"We all understand we've lost a bit of experience but there's nothing we can do about that," Cresswell said.
"We've got some kids who are learning, we've got six or seven 18-year-olds, our average age is 20.
"The more footy these boys play together, the better they are going to get.
"They're learning their caper at a vastly different level than what they're used to.
"We have shown at times we can play at this level. It's now a consistency thing with the kids, who will get better as they cope with playing at a higher level."
He said no off-field issues influenced performances.
"In my time as a senior coach, the presentation of the players has been outstanding," Cresswell said. "Maybe I've been too soft on them.
"All that stops now. We need to do something about the position we are in."
The coach was also publicly given the full support of the management and board of AFL Tasmania yesterday.
