Devils’ advocate proud of the boys

IT was a baptism of fire for the Tasmania Devils in their debut season in the NAB League. They went from part-time Mariners to full-time Devils, playing 16 fast and furious games against some of the best under-18 players in Australia, some of them future AFL stars. But Devils coach Adrian Fletcher is proud of the way his boys handled the pressure.

HE took a bunch of kids and taught them to play AFLstyle football — and Tasmania Devils coach Adrian Fletcher says at least 10 of his teenagers have the “attributes” to live their AFL dreams.

The 231-game, 13-year AFL veteran knows what it takes to hit the big time.

And even though his Devils won only four games — and lost three by a kick — in their debut season in the under-18 NAB League, they got a taste of the highly competitive environment and he can’t wait to see what they can do next year.

“The NAB League is a tough competition,” Fletcher said.

“The pressure and closing speed in this competition is very similar to an AFL game.

“It has been a massive challenge to set up the program, but our kids have survived the first year and been in every game except two.

“They must be commended for their attitude and intensity to be able to do that.”

Fletcher has used all of his know-how on the Devils, experience gained playing for Geelong, St Kilda, Brisbane and captain of Fremantle.

When he hung up the boots “Fletch” earned his stripes as AFL assistantcoach to Leigh Mathews (Brisbane Lions), Mick Malthouse (Collingwood), Mark “Bomber” Thompson (Geelong) and Michael Voss (Brisbane), and more recently as high performance manager for AFL Queensland.

He even coached Nathan Buckley when he was midfield coach at Collingwood and Jonathan Brown as forward line coach at the Lions.

It helped develop Fletcher’s AFL game-style and such tactics he calls the “party popper”, “hot spot”, “pressure lane” and “slide”.