Maiden NAB League finals campaign no barrier for how far Tasmania’s young guns can go
A brilliant NAB League season has seen the Devils girls secure a first round home final, and coach Cameron Joyce remains confident the occasion will not overawe his young guns
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THE Devils might be the surprise packet of the 2021 NAB League girls season but coach Cameron Joyce won’t put a ceiling on how far the side can progress through finals.
Tasmania’s best young female footballers have had a fairytale season — essentially their first in the competition after COVID-19 wiped out last year’s campaign — winning six of their eight regular season matches.
The two defeats came to minor premiers Oakleigh by six points and Eastern Ranges (11).
It has set up a home elimination final against Greater Western Victoria Rebels, an outfit the Devils defeated by 23 points last weekend.
“I think once you’re in it, anything can happen. Certainly some of our best footy has been good enough, I think we have challenged some of the top teams,” Joyce said.
“The teams that have beaten us in Oakleigh and Eastern, we lost to Oakleigh by a goal and Eastern by 11 points.
“We think we’re more than competitive against everyone but again, time will tell on how far we can go.
“I’m really proud of the girls and the work that they’ve done probably in the last five months we’ve had them and we’re really excited about what this week brings.”
The location of Sunday’s clash is yet to be determined, with the fixture a chance of being moved from North Hobart to Launceston due to accommodation unavailability.
Despite last week’s strong result, Joyce is expecting the Rebels to be fired up to bounce back.
“They’ve got four or five players that have played Vic Country representative footy, they’ve got Academy representatives as well in the best 20 in the country.
“We kicked pretty straight and they were a bit inaccurate, so the end result [last weekend] wasn’t a true reflection of the game in totality.”
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