Devils hammered in shock defeat

IT was a bad day for the Tasmania Devils, ambushed by the Murray Bushrangers in a punishing first half and, despite a late resurgence, they copped a surprise 38-point NAB League beating at UTas Stadium.

The Devils went into the game placed 10th on the ladder, five spots higher than the Bushrangers, who had only two wins to their name.

But the visitors were ruthless in their road raid.

The Bushrangers stood and delivered a decisive 10.14 (74) to 4.12 (36) loss and a significant reality check to the home side. Devils coach Adrian Fletcher was surprised by the performance.

“We’ve got to be better at ground level and we will be working on that, and we will be working a lot on our structure because it’s not always about possessions,” he said.

“We need to be able to open up the game in the areas we want to open up to allow our ball flow to be better. I think we are playing individually and we’ve got to get back to playing in the team environment.”

It was the second time the Tasmanians have been taught a lesson at their Launceston home ground, having lost by 47 points to the Western Jets there in Round 5.

The Devils managed only four goals against the Bushies, kicked by debutant Lachlan Borsboom, Jye Menzie, Ollie Sanders and Will Peppin —three of them coming in the final term.

Tasmania trailed by 43 at halftime and 48 at the final change, but shifted the momentum in the final term to stage a face-saving fightback.

The backline was under siege all game and that’s where Matt McGuinness stood tall with his 20 possessions, seven marks and 10 rebound 50s.

Oliver Burrows-Cheng was the Devils’ best midfielder with 17 disposals, five tackles and four inside-50s, while spearhead Jackson Callow had an off day with the boot (0.4) but worked hard for 16 touches and five marks inside 50.

“The Bushrangers were very clean and we were fumbly, and they used the ball really well by foot and we gave up too many soft goals with our mistakes and that hurts team confidence,” Fletcher said.

Fletcher was particularly pleased with the potential of debutant Jordan Lane. “Jordy is 198cm and showed he can play key forward and he’s good at ground level, he just has to keep working on his fitness.

The Devils have a week off before facing Northern Knights at the Twin Ovals on June 22.