By Connor Schmidtke
The Eastern Devils are on the verge of reaching the pinnacle of the Eastern Football Netball League, in their inaugural season in the competition.
The Devils moved across from the South East Women’s football league, debuting in the EFNL’s Premier Division in 2022. They hold a successful history, having won back-to-back Premierships in 2017 and 2018 before making the transition across this year.
Going straight into the Premier Division, the Devils have enjoyed an incredibly successful year from start to finish. Winning 13 of their 14 regular season games, the Devils stormed the competition and finished with a percentage of over 340, topping the ladder by four games.
Then to punctuate the brilliant season, the Devils scored a thumping win over Mt Evelyn in their first final to progress straight through to the Premier Division Grand Final. The Eastern Devils will now face South Croydon on Saturday, with their Reserves side also moving into the final game of the season, defeating SBL Wolves to face Vermont on Saturday morning.
The Eastern Devils are led by head coach, Jason Cridland, who said his team has enjoyed the challenge of moving to a new league.
“It’s been a challenge.
“I think like most teams, we’ve had our challenges this year in terms of personnel availability and then obviously coming up against a new team every week.
“I wouldn’t say we are surprised, we always thought we would be competitive. You never know how your football will stack up until you start playing, so I’m proud of the playing group has handled the season to date.”
Winning 14 of 15 games to reach the grand final, the Eastern Devils have brought across a strong list of players that have been maintained through the covid pandemic. Coupled with an impressive gameplan by the coaching staff, it is no surprise the Devils have achieved so much already in 2022.
Cridland said the attitude of the playing group has driven them to new heights.
“We have a real even spread of players.
“Obviously, we have a fair bit of talent out there, but they really work hard, and they are a close group of players. They work hard for one another, whether that’s defensive running, tackling pressure, whatever the case may be, they have a real desire to win and compete.
“You can have all the talent in the world but if you don’t have the right mindset, you are probably going to struggle. Where-as this is an easy group to coach, they are experienced and really switched on.”
With South Croydon the only team standing between them and a Premiership, the Devils will take confidence from their three encounters earlier on in the season. South Croydon were no match in the regular season for Cridland and his group, falling all three times by a rough average of 40-points.
Cridland said despite the final margins, South Croydon were a difficult opponent for his side this year.
“Firstly, we have a lot of respect for Simon and South Croydon and what they have done this season.
“They are a difficult opponent; they provide us with some different challenges than some of the other teams do.
“So really for us it’s about controlling what we can, that’s moving the ball correctly and putting on pressure when they have the footy. They’re and incredibly talented team and we need to ensure we’re at our best to get the result.
“Every game we’ve had against them, there’s been quarters where we have been really challenged. They’re a team that can score quickly, so we need to make sure that we don’t let them get any momentum up and running.”
Coming out of the two Covid-effected years and straight into a league change, the Devils have the chance to go straight to the top of the EFNL with a pair of wins on Saturday.
Cridland said a Premiership would mean so much to both him and the club.
“It would be massive.
“We stepped into the competition not knowing what to expect. We would be really proud if we were able to achieve it.
“We’ve had limited facilities at our home ground this year which has been another challenge.
“It would be massive. I think also when you enter a competition, if you can have a bit of success in your first year, it can help to get your name out there a little bit, so we would be thrilled.”
