When Oakleigh Chargers broke Tasmanian hearts last week, Devils talent manager Craig Notman was left all but nodding over the side's one-point NAB League defeat.
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Nobody would know the Chargers better than the man who has overseen a premiership dynasty in three of the past seven grand finals.
"The kids are pretty disappointed with the results on the weekend," Notman said.
"At the review on [Monday] night, they're really keen to make amends. They are really committed to make the best out of themselves."
Even better, Notman had guided 10 of the Oaks last year towards getting drafted.
Jack Ross has since broken into the Richmond lineup for every game bar one, while James Rowbottom at Sydney and Noah Answerth for Brisbane have both appeared twice with ex-Hawks Lance Franklin and Luke Hodge.
Now Launceston-based Notman has wisdom to share with the state under-18s.
"I think it's a big learning curve for our guys," he said.
"The teams we are coming up against in this league have got tremendous depth."
Notman's insider information counts somewhere up to 16 Chargers missing the Devils' clash at North Hobart on schoolboy commitments.
"It shows what we're competing against week in, week out. We got to be at that level every time we play," he said.
The Devils got beaten off a toe-poke goal off the ground inside the final five minutes.
Notman said it was a harsh lesson, pointing to fumbly disposals and a lack of clean hands that hurt his new side.
"We have a few guys that are up and down at the moment and are really adjusting to the standard of this elite competition," he said.
"We just got to make sure we can get some consistent results out of them and the results will flow from there."
"There are some good signs coming out," he said.
"The most pleasing part is we are getting some really good outcomes out of our bottom-age boys. It paints a really positive future."
Forget about drifting down the ladder to 12th place with just two wins that began with a lay-down-misere victory over Northern Territory.
Notman is convinced the program is already producing the right type of results.
Three from the group including Launceston key forward Jackson Callow have already represented Australia under-17s, while injured Mitch O'Neill is one on the path to being drafted.
"You can judge what you're doing with wins-losses, but there is also wins along the way with boys representing their country and playing higher levels that come into play with the Allies games. So there is a number of different ways that we can judge our success," he said.