Demons told to lift ... but it won’t be easy

NORTH Hobart coach Richard Robinson has declared the Demons must respond from last weekend’s hammering from Glenorchy.

The issue facing Robinson’s young troops is the side venturing to North Hobart Oval this afternoon is reigning premier and TSL powerhouse North Launceston.

After pushing Clarence for three quarters a fortnight ago, the Demons were obliterated by the Pies to the tune of 144 points, kicking their only goal after the final siren.

Despite the steep learning curve the club is on, Robinson refuses to accept mediocrity and revealed some home truths were discussed during the week.

“We have a massive challenge this week,” Robinson said.

“We need a response as a footy club, from a coaching group’s point of view, and a playing point of view.

“We have to go out and give a good account of ourselves against the best side in the State League in the last three or four years.

“As a coaching group, we were quite scathing on Monday night, we got stuck into them quite a bit and gave them a solid session and backed that up again on Tuesday.

“We are just trying to teach the young guys part of footy is about your preparation and your mindset, making sure you work hard during the week.

“Towards the back end of last week the training on Thursday night, looking at the vision, it wasn’t great.

“It probably explained how poor our performance was on Saturday. We got taught a footy lesson to be perfectly honest.”

One headache the Demons look to have avoided is last year’s premiership coach Tom Couch.

The former Melbourne midfielder, who is now a fly-in player, won’t line up for the Bombers because of his tennis coaching commitments.

“He tends to like playing at North Hobart Oval,” Robinson said of Couch.

“Hopefully ‘Couchy’ is serving up aces with ‘Dasha’ [Daria Gavrilova] in Melbourne.”

We need a response as a footy club, from a coaching group’s point of view, and a playing point of view — RICHARD ROBINSON (above)