Embrace the nerves and history and enjoy the moment.<\/p>\n
Those are the words of Tasmania Devils VFL vice-captain Jye Menzie and coach Jeromey Webberley ahead of the club’s inaugural outing on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Three years after being granted a licence for AFL entry in 2028, the Devils will run out in front of an 11,000-strong capacity North Hobart Oval crowd against Coburg.<\/p>\n
The clash is viewed as the first step in a crucial building process for the top league.<\/p>\n
Devils VFL coach Jeromey Webberley.\u00a0Photo by Josh Chadwick\/AFL Photos\/via Getty Images<\/p>\n
“This is one of the biggest moments in my footy journey,” Webberley, who played 16 games for Richmond, said.<\/p>\n
“It feels like forever we’ve been talking about the opportunity, now we’re a few days away. It’s a momentous day for the club and our jumper.”<\/p>\n
The Devils overcame a huge hurdle when approval for a new $1.13 billion stadium, a condition of the licence, passed state parliament in December.<\/p>\n
Tasmania, a die-hard footy state, has produced AFL legends including three-time Brownlow winner Ian Stewart as well as Alastair Lynch and Jack Riewoldt in more recent times.<\/p>\n
Menzie, who was delisted by Essendon at the end of last season, played his junior footy for North Hobart.<\/p>\n
He’ll lead the side in the absence of skipper and fellow Tasmanian Robbie Fox, after the ex-Sydney Swans grand finalist was ruled out with a calf injury.<\/p>\n
“It’s going to be pretty special and definitely something I’ve dreamed about,” the 23-year-old said.<\/p>\n
“We’ve touched on it a little bit, the history around the club.<\/p>\n
“We’re so keen to get out there and show the Tassie faithful what we can do and put ourselves on the national map.”<\/p>\n
Tasmania competed in the VFL from 2001-08 and made one preliminary final, but this is the first outing for the Devils franchise.<\/p>\n
Menzie admitted there were some nerves but also a groundswell of support.<\/p>\n
“Everywhere you go, someone is asking about the Devils. It’s massive,” he said.<\/p>\n
The club has some AFL experience on the roster, including former Sydney Swan Caleb Mitchell, Hugh Dixon and former North Melbourne 20-year-old Geordie Payne.<\/p>\n
Webberley said teenager Lachy Hay, who signed from country Victoria after a best-and-fairest season with Riddell, was a potential bolter for round one.<\/p>\n
He wants his side to bring a free-spirited approach against Coburg, who narrowly missed out on finals in 2025.<\/p>\n
“We don’t want to shy away from the occasion … we want to step into that,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We want to enjoy it, but we want to make sure we’re ready to play a game of footy.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Embrace the nerves and history and enjoy the moment. Those are the words of Tasmania Devils VFL vice-captain…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-548269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}