Devils looking to start season in style
DEVILS vice-captain Claire Ransom says new coach Jeromey Webberley has injected a dynamic game-style to the team for the 2022 NAB League Girls season – but he will not see the fruits of his labour in their opening round clash with Sandringham Dragons in Launceston on Saturday.
Webberley was isolated from the team after testing positive for Covid-19 on Thursday, so the Devils will be coached by assistant coach Jodi Clifford.
The Tasmanian girls tasted finals for the first time last year and hope for more of the same this season.
“Our preseason has been really good,” Ransom said.
“Jeromey’s knowledge has been really important to us. He has put in a lot of work, all of the coaches have, so the girls are excited and really pumped for the first game. The game-style is around using as many outlets as we can to get the ball forward, but Jeromey has got some slightly different game-plans and that will give us an edge.
“It was really important for us to make finals last year so we want build on that this year.
“There has been a lot of focus on playing as a team and making sure we are connecting.
“It’s a bit hard because we come from all over the state so having that connection is really important for us.”
The Devils have a lot of new faces and Ransom says captain Jemma Blair will set the standard. “We’re definitely a lot younger, so Jemma will be really important because we’ve got a lot of young girls coming through and a lot of girls debuting.”
Sandringham is an unknown quantity for Ransom and her Devils teammates after their 2020 match was cancelled and they avoided them on the draw last year.
“We didn’t play them last season so it will be really exciting to play them at home in the opening round,” Ransom said. “Our first three games are at home so it’s great to have a home crowd supporting us for those games.”