Tasmania Devils reach top four in debut VFL season
Australian club Tasmania Devils finished in the top four in its first season of the Victorian Football League (VFL) and will play a qualifying final against Geelong at Kardinia Park this weekend. ABC News Australia reports.
Devils' VFL manager Aaron Pidgeon said the club had not expected to reach the finals series before the start of the season. Just 12 months ago, the team had no players or playing jumper, and the club found it difficult to persuade footballers from other parts of Australia to move to Tasmania.
A strong finish to the season
Tasmania Devils' first VFL match against Coburg at North Hobart Oval drew 10,634 spectators. After the victory, the players were unable to sing the club song: it was approved only on the eve of the game, so the team did not yet know the words or melody.
After losing to Carlton by 25 points, the team strengthened its discipline during stoppages and applied its whole-team defensive system more strictly. In their final 10 matches, the Devils recorded seven wins and three losses, with two of those defeats coming by a combined margin of 11 points.
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Head coach Jeromey Webberley said that in the middle of the season, the team realised it was capable of playing at the level required to win decisive matches. According to him, success in away games against strong opponents strengthened the players' belief in their own style.
Preparing to enter the AFL
The Devils train in an agricultural shed north of Hobart that is used to display livestock during the annual Brighton Show. The club's current base has a small old grandstand, while a $120 million training centre is planned to be built in Kingborough in the coming years.
The team also has no permanent home stadium. For matches at North Hobart, Bellerive, York Park and Dial Park, the club had to negotiate separately with local councils or arena operators. Pidgeon called this season a test of the organisation ahead of Tasmania Devils' planned entry into the Australian Football League in 2028.
If the team defeats Geelong, it will host a preliminary final. List manager Todd Patterson, who helped assemble the men's and women's teams in about six weeks, said the Devils now have reason to dream of a championship.
