Devonport’s Beau Sharman is confident his embattled club made the right decision after Thursday’s abrupt departure from the State League.
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But the former captain said the writing was on the wall from the start of the pre-season campaign following some key player losses.
Just two days after the release of its 2018 roster, the TSL was thrown a curveball from the Magpies, who advised that they would be unable to field a side.
Sharman, who has been busy fielding phone calls from his teammates in the aftermath, believes the decision, while disappointing, was in the best interests of Devonport’s future.
“It’s sad but you could see it coming from a mile away,” Sharman said.
“I could see what was happening in terms of training and trying to get the numbers and we had been working pretty hard with to see where people were at.
“But when it hits the newspaper then reality sets in.
“It would be nice if there was a TSL team from this end of the Coast, but I don’t necessarily see that as Devonport’s responsibility because we may not have had a football club in a couple of years if we tried to keep going like we were.
It’s sad but you could see it coming from a mile away
- Beau Sharman
“There was probably some writing on the wall last year but we still had an opportunity to get it right and didn’t quite get there.
“You can’t predict what people are feeling and you think you are going alright then you lose someone like Brayden Butler which puts a spanner in the works, then you don’t get the other players you thought you would get either.
“I really think there were four or five pillars we needed to get, and when you don’t get one or two of them, the others don’t come and it falls down pretty quick.”