Confidence is growing within the Tasmania Devils camp, with Caleb Mitchell saying the team’s latest win over an AFL-aligned club shows they can match it with the competition’s strongest sides.
Mitchell said he was impressed how his team handled the tough Launceston conditions on Saturday to thrash Richmond by 63 points at UTAS Stadium.
“You always say you either get rain or wind, we got both on the weekend,” Mitchell said.
“It was terrible, but I was really proud of how the boys pulled through and were just tougher on the day.”
The midfielder said the team’s ball handling in the wet was the most impressive aspect of the win, after a few weeks of not being at their best.
“What stood out was how clean we were,” he said.
“Probably the last two weeks our skills have been a bit skew-whiff, but I thought, yeah, particularly in the wet, we really held ourselves together with the ball.”
Mitchell was also close to becoming one of the first Devils players to reach 30 disposals, though two were taken off his tally.
“Done it twice to me now, so I’ll have to have a word to whoever’s doing that,” he said.
“But no … it’s just good to get me hands on the ball.”
Looking at the broader season, Mitchell said the Devils have been competitive in every game and believes finals are within reach.
The Devils are sitting in fourth spot on the ladder, two points clear of six teams on 24 points.
“We’ve actually never been out of a game this year,” he said.
“All I wanna do is get to that finals series and see how far we can go, I reckon I’m really confident.”
With games against Sandringham and then the AFL-aligned Brisbane and Box Hill, Mitchell said the run of fixtures was exciting rather than daunting.
“All three of those teams are very strong and they’re challenges that we look forward to,” he said.
Ahead of this Sunday’s clash with Sandringham at the Trevor Barker Beach Oval in Victoria, Mitchell said the team would need to be ready for a contest-heavy game.
“You just gotta be ready for that contest battle,” he said.
No significant injuries came out of the weekend, with Mitchell saying his own body is in great shape heading into the second half of the season.
