All the ins, outs and key players ahead of the 2023 TSL season
The new TSL season is finally here and we’ve got you covered with everything you need to know. Check out our team-by-team preview with all the ins and outs, key players and coaches’ views.
The new Tasmanian State League season is finally here.
All seven clubs have been busy in the off-season making the moves they hope can help them climb the mountain.
Here’s everything you need to know about the season ahead.
CLARENCE
Coach: Peter Ryan
Captain: Jarrod Harper
Ins: Mitch Anderton (Sorell), Riley Higgins (New Norfolk), Noah Holmes (DOSA), Jack Mazerngarb (North Launceston).
Outs: Jacques Barwick (Western Australia), Harry Burges (Brighton), Jonte Doran (University), Colin Garland (retired), Keren Howlett (Claremont), Tom McCallum (Port Adelaide), Cameron Owen (Sydney Swans).
Player to Watch: Noah Holmes
Holmes returns to join brother James back at the Roos following a year with DOSA in the Old Scholars. Holmes will be a major addition to the Roos forward line given the retirement of last years’ Hudson Medalist Colin Garland. Holmes booted 38 goals in 15 games last season with the Roosters making it all the way to the grand final. Kicked a bag of 10 in round 15 against Richmond and coach Peter Ryan will be hoping he can pair well with Ollie Preshaw in attack as the Roos look to rebound from last season’s five-point preliminary final loss to the Tigers.
Coach’s Comment: “Our pre-season has been more of the same and really about building on what we did really well last year. We reflected on last season as a whole and where we came from at the start of the year when I took over to where we finished and we thought it was a really exciting year but we feel there’s unfinished business there. Over pre-season we’ve been able to hone our skills and our main areas of focus have been on our ball movement but also having a bit more control. As most people would have seen last year, we play a pretty attacking brand of footy but we’ve spoken about there being times we need to control the footy a bit more so we’ve worked on that a bit. So we’ll still have that attacking flair but it’s also about having strong defensive principles as well. We are really looking forward to the season and we’re not putting a ceiling on where we can go this year. We’ve got a really strong group with our younger kids coming through and putting pressure on our senior guys and so for me it’s really exciting to challenge ourselves and see where we actually fit. It’s all a bit of an unknown at the moment so we are looking forward to round 1 and actually getting to play it this year [after having the bye last year].”
GLENORCHY
Coach: Josh Arnold
Captain: Matthew Joseph
Ins: Harrison Shaw (time off) Daniel Muir (time off).
Outs: John Geard (St Virgil’s), Ben Kamaric (Victoria), Riley Oakley (St Virgil’s), Adam Roberts (DOSA), Will Brom (Queensland).
Player to watch: Blake Waight
Made the step up to the TSL last season and immediately became a shining light in a difficult season for Glenorchy. The medium sized defender is an elite intercept mark and will be looking to take the next step in his development this season. Predominantly played across halfback but has shown the ability to play right across the ground.
Coach’s comment: “I’m excited coming into the season considering where we were as a club three or four months ago. The boys have dug deep and put in a lot of hard work but we are under no illusion we still have a lot of work to do and so our focus is on trying to improve and grow from last year. I’m putting no expectation on the group and obviously a lot of people expect us to be under achievers and so I really want to come out and cause one or two upsets throughout the year. But overall I just want to see them grow and continue to get better.”
LAUNCESTON
Coach: Mitch Thorp
Captains: Jobi Harper and Brodie Palfreyman
Ins: Isaac Hyatt (Devils), Liam Jones (Devils).
Outs: Jay Blackberry (South Launceston), Brendan Taylor (South Launceston), Jake Smith (Rocherlea), Michael Musicka (Bracknell), Cooper Warren (Bracknell), Josh Woolley (Bracknell), Miller Hodge, (Bracknell), Jameson House (Wynyard), Jonty McIvor (Wynyard), Fletcher Seymour (Old Scotch), Josiah Burling (Perth), Jett Maloney (Longford), Alex Wright (Norwood – SANFL), Jack Tuthill (Hillwood), Casey Brown (Longford), Connor Riethoff (Launceston), Bailey Seabourne (Launceston), Jacob Boyd (Hillwood), Kye Chilcott (Deloraine), Jack Stedman (Bridgenorth).
Player to watch: Isaac Hyatt
Hyatt looks ready to make his mark after a couple of years in the Tasmania Devils system, although illness restricted him to just a couple of games of senior football last year. He has speed to burn and can play midfield while also causing some havoc across half forward. Should be a tough matchup for most opposition defences.
Coach’s comment: “We’ve certainly had some shifts to our list but most of the guys who have jumped into our senior squad have been at the club for four or five years, cut their teeth at D-League level and won premierships there. The demographic of our list is probably 19 to 23 which is right at the point where they should be playing good senior footy. Our standards haven’t shifted and for me it’s stimulating to have some new faces who need to be taught and educated. I’m energised and looking forward to round one.”
LAUDERDALE
Coach: Allen Christensen
Captain: Josh McGuinness
Ins: Phillip Bellchambers (North Shore), Jason Gridley (Hobart), Jeremiah Perkins (Sorell), Bailey Wheeler (New Norfolk), Zac Wheeler (New Norfolk), Alex Wiggins (Hobart).
Outs: Fletcher Hooker (Southport), Nick Hooker, Bodhi Kingston (Sorell), Jayden Magro, Lennon Marlin (Western Australia), Will Poland (Sorell), Harry, Richmond (Noosa), Sam Tilley (South Australia).
Player to watch: Phillip Bellchambers
Bellchambers returns to SkyBus Oval following a stint in Victoria playing for North Shore under former Bombers coach Darren Winter. His inclusion into Allen Christensen’s line-up brings some much needed experience and grunt into the Bombers midfield following the loss of Lennon Marlin to Western Australia. Bellchambers will reunite with former skipper Bryce Walsh, along with grand final teammates Rhys Sutton and Nat Franklin. Expect the tough onballer to return with a bang in 2023.
Coach’s comment: We are looking or some real sharp improvement from our younger guys and having not such a heavy reliance on tope end talent which we’ve had for long time at the club. We’ve lost a few players but gained a few as well and if I get the improvement I expect then I don’t see there being any limitations on the group and what we can do. I want them to have no fear with their ball movement and we play footy for fun so my view is we may as well have fun doing it. We want to do the fun stuff and make is as prevalent as possible so it’ll be about kicking goals, pressuring hard, tackling hard, and just trying to have fun with our footy. We are definitely aiming to improve on our result last year after losing in the elimination final.”
NORTH HOBART
Coach: Adam Bester
Captain: Callen Daly
Ins: Charlie Meadows (Hobart), David Monks (Hobart), Bradley Williams (QAFL), Spencer White.
Outs: Sam Banks-Smith (QAFL), Sam Caswell (Aspley), Logan Elphinstone (Burnie), Callum Kilpatrick (West Preston), George McLeod (Sturt), Hugh Williams snr (retired), Lachie Dale (Mansfield), Luke Quirk (Mansfield), Will Splann (Central District), Nathaniel Sulzberger (Caulfield Grammar).
Player to watch: Spencer White
Arrives as the Dees’ headline off-season recruit and is expected to add plenty of scoring power forward of centre. White has been signed as a playing assistant coach and will add fantastic leadership. Spent time in St Kilda’s AFL system, playing two games for four goals back in 2014.
Coach’s comment: “A big focus has been getting the players to enjoy their footy again. Along with that has been our changing game plan and looking to change the way we want to play and look, both in front of the ball and behind the ball. Last year North Hobart were predominantly a one-on-one team but with the way footy is going we’ve focused on team defence so that’s been out big focus as well as having the fitness to execute it so we’ve really tried to improve our running capacity over the pre-season. But again, it’s about trying to get that enjoyment out of footy but with it putting in the hard work so that players enjoy coming to training and enjoy the way we want to play. I’ve said it all pre-season, what we are looking for is improvement in our scoring, improvement in our scores against, and improvement in our fitness. And if we can do that then the wins will come. We’ve already had a number of wins in the off season and sometimes wins aren’t just on the scoreboard. We all want to get wins on the scoreboard but internally we’ve had some wins in the summer. If we can continue to improve and develop our younger players and game plan I think we should be capable of putting us in games and keeping us in games much longer and then hopefully get some wins on the board.”
NORTH LAUNCESTON
Coach: Brad Cox-Goodyer
Captains: Alex Lee and Ben Simpson
Ins: Connor Young (Scottsdale).
Outs: Corey Nankervis, Tom Bennett, Michael Stingel (Norwood).
Player to watch: Connor Young
A triple premiership player with the Bombers from 2017-19, Young returns after a stint at Scottsdale. Traditionally a defender, Cox-Goodyer has flagged using him mainly up forward to help cover the loss of Bennett. “He’s been a defender but we’re going to try him as a forward,” Cox Goodyer said. “He’s got really good leg speed so we’ll try and use that as well. He’s pretty new to it and it ironing out a few things, but he’s adapting quite well.”
Coach’s comments: “I’m pretty excited because the last two years I’ve coached we had five debutants in round one (in 2021) and I think about six last year, and this year there might be one at most. “A lot of guys have played senior footy now, hopefully they now what it’s about with preparation and know the structures and they can work together as a team. “For long term success you need to build these guys up and give them a chance. If you go out and recruit everyone and play your up-and-coming players in the development league, they get pretty sick of that pretty soon and can walk out. “You have to put time into them and that’s what we’ve done the last couple of years. We’re hoping this one is the one that bears the fruit.”
TIGERS
Coach: Trent Baumeler
Captain: Lachie Clifford
Ins: Nic Baker (Sorell), Jake Williams (Claremont), James Zietzen (Cygnet), James Webb (Cygnet), Murray Bastick (Cygnet), Reece Scotland (Cygnet), James Green (Hutchins), Max Buckland (South Australia).
Outs: Jordan Lane (Port Melbourne), Zach Adams (Port Melbourne), Luke Graham (University), Brady Rees (interstate), Cooper Sawdy (interstate), Sam, Duigan (travelling), Riley Ashlin (travelling).
Player to watch: Nic Baker
The former Tassie Devil captain and AFL draft hopeful is a huge pick-up for the Tigers after the 22-year-old decided to return to the state’s top level after some time with Sorell. Baker is a smart, versatile player with great skills who can help fill a number of roles all over the ground for the Tigers in 2023. After a big summer on the track the Tigers are excited about Baker’s versatility as well as his ability to cover the ground well, make smart decisions, and excel both one-on-one and outside of the contest. His coach has described Baker as a “‘really nice weapon to have at our disposal” and said he plans to use the 190cm utility in a number of roles depending on their opposition each week.
Coach’s comment: “We’ve had another really good pre-season and we’ve got a few new players to integrate which is exciting and we are looking forward to seeing how it all comes together. We are pretty excited with what our new guys can bring and we feel the players we’ve brought in have replaced the ones departing. People can often say if you get to a grand final and it doesn’t go your way then you’ve got to make changes but what we do well got us to 14 wins and a grand final so we don’t need to change too much with the way we go about it. We’ve also added a bit of depth in our midfield as well is great. That’s an area we pride ourselves on in terms of contested footy and stoppage work so hopefully that’ll be even more of a strength of ours this year.”
Originally published as All the ins, outs and key players ahead of the 2023 TSL season
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