Tasmania Devils news

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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