Coach Trent Bartlett is delighted to be the conduit between turning the state's aspiring female athletes into the next AFLW stars.
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By the fluency of his words and actions, the one-time Brisbane Bears and Western Bulldogs recruit could be mistaken for a football artist.
His blank canvas is the Tasmania Devils under-18 girls set to debut in a NAB League trial on Friday night.
The side will make history against Western Jets before facing Eastern Ranges two days later in Craigieburn.
With a touch of a flamboyant painter, Bartlett refuses to put any limits on the latest incarnation of the Devils.
"We will throw our girls around in different positions and see what we can come up with," Bartlett said.
"Ultimately, winning or losing just at this stage is not super important to us in terms of these games.
"It's really about letting the girls show what they can do.
"They can play footy, they have athletic attributes, so we want to let them go.
"Our goal as a coaching staff and an administration is about how can we best let the girls show what they can do for national recruiters and all that sort of stuff?"
"If they're really athletic, we're not going to hold them back in a sense of a structure where they can't show how they can run and carry or bounce the footy.
"We want them to be going for their marks and we want them to kick the footy long."
Bartlett said the carefree attitude was to break the stigma of the AFLW.
He wants the Tasmanians to continue the recent trend in the competition's third year of an increased scoring.
"Women's footy is now getting very exciting at the moment," he said.
"The AFLW is getting better and I want the girls to show a free-flowing type-of-footy.
"I want them to show an exciting game, not a dour sort of defensive footy."
The Devils squad, like their under-18 male counterparts, have trained in three hubs across the state.
The players are yet to pull on the one guernsey together.
But the former Deloraine teenage star is confident a strong preseason will set things up for next season's full-time involvement in the Victorian-based league.
"We are miles ahead of where we have ever been to be honest," Bartlett said.
"Now we get these NAB League games, which basically we are using the first two as nothing more than practice matches. Then we will focus down on some real stuff for a third league game."
Bartlett was quick to acknowledge the capabilities of one of his standout players, vice-captain Mia King.
The Launceston teenager is already an All-Australian under-17 player, represented the Allies and inducted into the AFL academy program.
"She's a great young footballer," Bartlett said.
"She's still got a bit to learn, but she has got some really good athletics attribute and really good footy smarts."
Andrew Mathieson
The day I realised I wasn't good enough to play for St Kilda or be the No.1 spinner for Australia was when I realised journalism was the closest I could come to follow my passion for sport. And it's not just about the scores for me. It's the back story behind the game.
The day I realised I wasn't good enough to play for St Kilda or be the No.1 spinner for Australia was when I realised journalism was the closest I could come to follow my passion for sport. And it's not just about the scores for me. It's the back story behind the game.
