Tasmania Devils - Kangaroos In Part Alignment.

[Kingpin]

29th November 2005: Devils Ready To Cash In On Merger
By David Stockdale.

The Kangaroos have promised their partial alignment with the Devils won't become a one-way street.
And given the help the Kangaroos have offered, Devils coach Mathew Armstrong is more than happy to take the word of his old AFL club.
As well as providing players, especially much-needed talls, the Kangaroos will provide help for Armstrong's coaching and statistical support staff.
"We will have access to their IT and they are coming down here to reboot our software," he said.
"And they've said I can sit in the coach's box with Dean Laidley and watch how they go about things, which can only help me become a better coach."
Armstrong sees the alignment as a chance for the Devils to get deeper into a VFL finals campaign and learn from the professionalism of the old North Melbourne, both on and off the field.
Asked about the swag of talls the Kangaroos' list boasts, he replied: "I'm vey happy about it!
"North Melbourne will send one of their coaches down here and we will have a lot of communication with them by phone and email about the type of players they've got and how best we can fit them into our structure and help them develop.
"We're always looking for different ways to get to the top of the mountain and this alignment may be our chance."
Kangaroos chief executive Geoff Walsh said he was willing to offer the Devils any sort of support that was asked for.
"There may be a few teething things to work through but I don't really see any major problems," Walsh said.
"We certainly won't be muscling in and saying, `This is how we do it and this is the way we want you to do it'.
"We're there to support Mathew and his team and [Devils president] Guy Abel and his board and say, `If there's anything you want, we're here'.
"But at the end of the day they run the footy club and we don't."

 

[Kingpin]

29th November 2005: Devils' Delight Over Deal With Roos
By David Stockdale.

The Devils and Kangaroos believe both clubs will prosper under their new partial VFL-AFL alignment.
The alignment, under which the Kangaroos will provide players not picked in their senior side to the Devils and North Ballarat, was formalised yesterday at Wrest Point.
Kangaroos chief executive Geoff Walsh said the three clubs had reached "a mutually agreeable formula".
The one-year trial, which Walsh is confident will be extended, follows Port Melbourne's decision to end its previous alignment with the Kangaroos.
Among the 20 listed players the Devils can pick from if they aren't required by the Kangaroos are former Tasmanians Jade and Brady Rawlings, Brent Harvey, Shannon Grant, Troy Makepeace, Nathan Thompson, Jonathon Hay and Adam Simpson.
Importantly for the Devils, who previously have lacked big-man power, the list contains seven players between 203cm and 196cm.
They are Hamish McIntosh, David Hale, Brad Moran, Jade Rawlings, Hay, Thompson and Chad Jones.
AFL Tasmania general manager Scott Wade described the alignment as the most significant announcement he had made in the six years he had been in the job.
"We've had the Team of the Century and the Hall of Fame and the great history of Tasmanian football, but the significance of this announcement is that, for the first time, Tasmania now has a day-to-day football operations relationship with an AFL club," Wade said.
"The good thing is it doesn't cut across in any form AFL games which are played in Tasmania.
"This is a partnership and one which we are very much looking forward to."
Wade stressed the negotiations had been through an exhaustive consultation process which started with
discussions between the boards of AFL Tasmania and the Tasmania Football Club and then went to the leadership group of the club, headed by Devils coach Mathew Armstrong.
"We also sought the views of the AFL, Football Victoria, which manages the competition, the State Government, our sponsors and the media," he said.
He has no qualms about the partial alignment initially being for only one year.
"We shouldn't be afraid of that because we actually only joined the VFL with a one-year licence and now we're about to enter our sixth season,"
Wade said yesterday.
"We have a three-year licence agreement, so we would like to link it to that."
He denied a suggestion Kangaroos coach Dean Laidley would hold the whip hand in the alignment.
"While naturally there will be some consultation, Matty Armstrong and his support staff will be in control of what goes on with the team every day of the week, including match days," he said.
Kangaroos players picked for the Devils would wear the Devils'
colours not only on the ground but the club's travelling attire off it.
Walsh baulked at saying it was a relief for the Roos to find dual alignment partners.
"I don't think relief is quite the right word. Like our partners, we're excited by it," he said.
"To be part of the VFL competition with two partners who in the early stages have been so progressive and positive in their thinking has been very refreshing.
"After asking how can we make this work, they have shown a keenness to knock over any hurdles that may be potentially there.
"That's been the keynote of our discussions."
Walsh added the Kangaroos viewed the VFL as the premier domestic competition in Australia and a very important platform for developing players.
The Kangaroo players allocated to Tasmanian Devils -
Key Forward: Leigh Brown (193cm)
Tall Defender: Michael Firrito (186cm)
Midfielder/Defender: Josua Gibson (186cm)
Forward: Shannon Grant (178cm)
Ruckman: David Hale (200cm)
Midfielder: Brent Harvey (172cm)
Midfielder/Forward: Daniel Harris (180cm)
Defender: Jonathon Hay (196cm)
Key Defender: Chad Jones (196cm)
Key Forward: Corey Jones (187cm)
Forward: Troy Makepeace (180cm)
Defender: Hamish McIntosh (203cm)
Ruckman: Scott McMahon (184cm)
Defender: Brad Moran (200cm)
Utility/Key Position: Brady Rawlings (181cm)
Midfielder: Jade Rawlings (196cm)
Utility/Key Position: Joel Perry (192cm)
Utility/Key Position: Adam Simpson (185cm)
Midfielder: Jess Sinclair (180cm)
Defender: Nathan Thompson (196cm)

 

[billybrownless16]

Welcome to your new home Jade Rawlings

 

[onslaught]

Tassy and the Roosters meet in Round2 at North Ballarat.

You'd hope its an intense hit-out, and doesn't play like an intra-club warm up.

McIntosh, Moran and Ch Jones all in the same side will cause other clubs some problems.

 

[Kingpin]

And by the way too, I realise the playing positions are totally out of whack on that post as well.
That's how they were written up in the paper.