Bolton drill for fledgling Devils

TASMANIAN football must learn to walk again before it can run in its quest for an AFL team — starting with the return of the Devils, says Carlton coach Brendon Bolton.

Bolton was at North Hobart Oval to put the southern-based Devils through their paces ahead of the state’s return to the yet to be rebranded TAC Cup full time under18s competition.

The former Clarence and North Hobart coach, and full-time Tasmanian TAC Cup player, was a key instigator in the return of the Devils as a member of the AFL’s steering committee into the health of Tasmanian football.

“Don’t look too far ahead, just zone in on doing the TAC Cup as well as you possibly can and then look at the stages and steps after that,” Bolton said.

“But right now the priority is to get the underbelly really strong.

“The public should actually embrace the idea of having something that is truly theirs again, truly statewide and really unite as a state around the TAC Cup and love their juniors, love when they get drafted and love when they become really good state league players.

“Just embrace it, step one — and look for little wins. You can’t do it overnight, it takes a little bit of time to compete at that level.”

Bolton joined fellow committee member Brisbane coach Chris Fagan in calling for the steering committee to continue.

“I think if we touch base from time to time that is important,” he said.

“You’ve always got to reassess what you are doing and how you going about it and I’m sure (AFL Tasmania chief executive) Trisha Squires will put that in place.”