With major redevelopments at Valley Road, cup final hosting rights and both senior teams on a high, Devonport Strikers are buoyant ahead of a huge double-header this weekend.
While the men’s team have had a week to savour their thrilling nine-goal extra-time Lakoseljac Cup win, the women can reflect on a sensational start featuring 34 goals in just three games.
Englishman Tom Ballantyne, who is coaching both teams this season, said the club is excited about what the future holds.
“If we can bring showpiece games to the state and they play at Devonport that would be fantastic for the club,” he said.
“If we manage to get an A-League side here and can host games here at Valley Road it’s another opportunity to show what the North-West of Tasmania is capable of doing.
“The desire to play a home cup final is huge but with that comes pressure. But pressure’s a privilege and it’s an opportunity to potentially play in front of a couple of thousand people at home with a massive opportunity to move forward to the national stage and put Devonport on the map again.”
A week after their memorable cup clash, Devonport again face Glenorchy with both sides coming off a league loss having won their season-openers.
Ballantyne described the KGV cup clash as “interesting” but felt it should not have too much influence on the third-versus-fourth league clash.
“We knew it was going to be a hard game, especially playing them again this week,” he said.
“We tried to hide a couple of things on Saturday but we knew it would be a different game down there, it always is, whereas at home we can do what we like to do rather than adjust to them.”
Knights coach Brian Murphy also warned against reading too much into the cup match where he felt mistakes cost his team.
“We move on, it’s a fresh game, we re-focus and re-energise,” he said.
“It was a great one for the spectators but we don’t take too much out of last week, we’re focused on this week and putting things right.”
Murphy said his reigning NPL champions will need a different mindset at Valley Road.
“It’s a tough place to go and it can be a bit daunting at times, especially with the young players we have in the squad having to rebuild this year, but it’s our first away trip and we’re looking forward to it.”
With South Hobart and Launceston City enjoying 100 per cent starts and Kingborough knocking off Strikers in round two, Murphy said NPL Tasmania was shaping into an intriguing contest.
“Last year went to the last game of season and last week could’ve gone either way,” he said.
“It just goes to show anyone can beat anybody. It’s a tough league, a lot of new coaches, a lot of new ideas and a really good time for Tasmanian football.”
It is a contrasting tale in the Women’s Super League where Devonport are among three teams with perfect records while Glenorchy are among four yet to register a point.
Knights coach Ivica Bolonja is expecting a vastly different North-West journey to last week’s 13-1 cup win against a Burnie United Women’s Northern Championship side which only had 10 players for the second half.
“Obviously South and Devonport are the yardsticks in the competition,” he said.
“We’ve got a really exciting talented young group that is coming through and they’re only going to get better. We had a couple of really good tussles against Devonport last year but what they really demonstrated to me was that unless we are at our best we’re not going to compete against them.”
With Strikers averaging more than 11 goals per game so far there is no sign of missing former golden boot Jaz White, who is now scoring goals for South Hobart.
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NPL Tasmania
Saturday, April 5
2.30pm Clarence v Launceston United, Wentworth Park
2.30pm Devonport v Glenorchy, Valley Road
4.30pm Kingborough v Riverside Olympic, Lightwood Park
Sunday, April 6
2pm South Hobart v Launceston City, D’Arcy Street
Women’s Super League
Saturday, April 5
12pm Kingborough v Riverside Olympic, Lightwood Park
12.15pm Devonport v Glenorchy, Valley Road
2pm South Hobart v Taroona, D’Arcy Street
Bye: Launceston United