OUTS: Brandt Lee, Nathan Robertson, Sam Lutwyche.

CAPTAINS: Quade Byard, Brad Simmons, Nick Pearce, Ryan Keep.

COACH: Mitch Thorp.

MOST State League pundits are touting Devonport as the big improvers for the 2015 TSL season under new coach Mitch Thorp.

The former South Launceston premiership coach has returned home from the SANFL to take over the reins at Devonport on a two-year contract and is expected to again be one of the most influential players in the competition.

Thorp has settled in well at Devonport and has high expectations of success for the Magpies this season and wants them to figure prominently in finals and be flag contenders.

"It's been very interesting and obviously we have a lot of talent within the group and a lot of people came to our try-outs which started in early November and some made it and some didn't," he said.

"We've trained hard so I expect us to be quite fit and we have some good coaches and support staff around the club and an emphasis on tightening up our expectations on and off the field.

"I think we will be hard to beat and we've certainly got a bit of experience now in the group and from what I've seen over the summer we have quite a competitive group.

"We will take a little while to click together but I think on our day that we will be fairly strong and my expectations are to go as deep into the season as we can and we obviously want to win the flag this year and that's my goal."

"We've had a good summer and a couple of practice matches and we're keen to start the season in a couple of weeks time."

The Magpies have appointed co-captains with Nick Pearce, Quade Byard and Brad Symmons sharing the duties.

"Quade has come back from a knee reconstruction and has some issues he needs to work on there and Nick is new to TSL footy and Brad has also had a knee reconstruction - so they have each other to knock ideas around and support each other and they have been terrific leaders with a young group," Thorp said.

INS: Clinton Proctor, Romain Grenville (Geelong Football League), Aaron Butler (DFA), Tyrone Morrison (Smithton).

OUTS: Luke Shackleton (South Burnie), Caleb Hislop (Williamstown), Sam Rice (Kingborough Tigers), Lee Satori (Victoria).

CAPTAIN: Kade Munday.

COACH: Clinton Proctor.

IT will be a new-look Burnie this season with Victorian Clinton Proctor taking over the coaching job and implementing a new game plan for the club.

The 29-year-old playing coach has played with Williamstown and Frankston in the VFL before heading to the Geelong Football League to coach.

"The move to Burnie came about through a contact with the Williamstown footy club where Peter German was coaching before and we'd been down there on a camp beforehand and it went from there," Proctor said.

"I usually play through the midfield and pushing forward and I'm contracted for two years."

Proctor said he could not fault the enthusiasm of the playing group during the pre-season and their willingness to learn.

The Dockers have lost the experienced Luke Shackleton, Sam Rice and Caleb Hislop but have gained forward Romain Grenville from the Geelong league and ruckman Tyrone Morrison returns from the NTFL.

Proctor said being unfamiliar with the TSL competition he was yet to set definite goals for the team this season.

" I am optimistic and I think the boys are training well and we played well last week against Lauderdale but we haven't really put a goal in place just yet as far as what we want to achieve.

"It's the old cliche at the moment - one game at a time.

"I think we will have a fairer indication of where we are at after round 5 because we play Devonport, North Launceston, Western Storm, Launceston and Clarence in the first five weeks.

"I guess that's when I will sit down with the boys and assess our season from there.

"There's no doubt they expect to have a successful season but we are rolling out a new game plan and system and a lot of different personnel as well so we are just going to need a bit of time to get it right."