Tasmania Devils girls off to perfect start in NAB Leauge

Tasmania’s elite under-18 Devils girls were outstanding in their opening match of the 2021 NAB League season in Melbourne.

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A FOUR-goal haul by key forward Amy Prokopiec and a “hunter’s mindset” delivered a perfect start to the NAB League for the Tasmania Devils girls in Melbourne on Saturday, as they sunk their teeth deep into the Gippsland Power.

The Devils were ferocious whether they had the ball or not and Gippsland felt the full force meted out by the girls wearing the “Map” on their way to winning the round one clash by 62 points — 10.11 (71) to 1.3 (9).

The victory came at a price.

Small forward Zoe Bourne has a “bad” wrist injury and may not be available for the Devils’ next match against the Western Jets at the Twins Ovals next weekend.

Members of the Tasmania Devils girls leadership group Perri King, 17, Claire Ransom, 16, Amy Prokopiec, 17, and Jemma Webster, 18, ahead of their first game of the NAB League season. Picture: Zak Simmonds

Tasmanian coach Cameron Joyce said his girls deserved their triumph.

“It was great reward for effort,” Joyce said.

“They’ve had a 10-week block with us and they have done everything right and buying into everything we want to do.

“It was great to see them get the rewards.”

As well as Prokopiec, Amy Bissett was a livewire forward and Joyce was particularly pleased with 15-year-olds Brooke Barwick and Georgia Clarke as small forwards.

The defensive pressure applied by the Tasmanians set up their domination.

“If they can do that week to week, we are going to compete with a fair few sides,” Joyce said.

“We’ve been doing a lot of work on our hands around the contest, and the girls are, first of all, getting the ball and they are shaping it from the contest really well and sharing the ball, which is great.

“They are certainly setting up their share of passages of play that are creating opportunities to score.”

The Devils led 36-8 at half-time and allowed Gippsland only one behind in the second half.

“Our ability to put pressure on the opposition, particularly our tackling, was excellent,” Joyce said.

“The girls have done a fair bit of work on the technique, so to want to hunt the opposition as well as they did gave us the opportunity to win the ball back and score.”