Tasmania's State League stocks are in fantastic hands with the under-25 representative team picking up a comfortable 15.13 (103) to 10.7 (67) win over Victoria Metro.
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In a match full of under-sized football talent on show, small forwards Glenorchy's Aiden Grace and Lauderdale's Alex Saunders both ended up with three goals for the Devils with dynamic duo Elijah Reardon and Henry Kerinaiua at their silky best collecting two apiece.
Kieran Lovell added to the compact Tasmanian fleet, collecting plenty of ball in the midfield as him and North Launceston star Josh Ponting took the game into their hands, Ponting accumulating tackles throughout.
As the home side led at every break, they overcame the persistent challenge of Liam McVeigh and Josh MacDonald's three-goal performances for Victoria Metro and threatening signs from Marcus Calvaresi and Jhye Baddeley-Kelly that looked like turning the game.
Tasmania's coach Jamie Hayward was extremely pleased with his side.
"When you've got three or four weeks to pull something together and see the way the boys came together and the coaches support and the general football community, it's really pleasing. Especially for the boys to actually get over the line in the end, it's outstanding," he said.
"What we've pulled out of that time is a really good demonstration that a longer-term proposition of pulling each corner of the state together for a VFL team is really positive."
With a majority of the side pulling on the famous Map guernsey for the first time, Heyward was impressed with Lefroy Medalist Aiden Grace.
"Gracey was monumental down there and was basically our only forward target all day and I think when the game was there to win early, he was crucial taking contested marks.
"He didn't stop there, he tackled and applied pressure which allowed Henry [Kerinaiua], Alex [Saunders] and Sherrin [Egger] and those guys to come into the game.
Showing they are more than capable of matching it with Australia's finest with the win, the under-25 Devils opened the scoring with Callen Daly running into an open goal off the back of strong team play but Victoria Metro hit back with three of their own to put early pressure on the home side.
Marcus Calvaresi started the Metro highlights reel early with a fantastic forward pocket goal before Joshua MacDonald and Liam McVeigh capitalised on crisp set-ups to claim and extend the lead.
With Glenorchy's Aiden Grace looking dangerous but struggling to convert opportunites, the Tasmanians grabbed a last-minute goal through Alex Saunders to be trailing by three points at the first break.
Former Hawthorn midfielder Kieran Lovell found himself open on the 50-metre arc and bombed long for Grace to claim his first after a strong contested mark to claim the opening second-quarter goal and the lead.
Callum Kilpatrick claimed one in the square following Henry Kerinaiua brillance to have the Devils up by nine but Metro small forward Robbie McComb kicked one to claw the margin back from the home side.
Kerinaiua's casual play continued to shine with a lackadaisical dribble kick goal adding to the Northern Territory's star highlights with the side's trading majors from Metro's Jake Hobbs and pocket rocket Daly.
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Aiden Grace claimed his second to end the second half and have the Devils sitting 16 points in front, 7.6 (48) to 5.2 (32) at the main break as they restricted the influence of Jhye Baddeley-Kelly.
The Devils picked up where they left off with Kerinaiua picking up his second in the opening minutes to create a comfortable lead.
Metro's Liam McVeigh showed his class with a clean strike to peg back the lead but Elijah Reardon turned it on in for the Map with a five-minute patch of stardom before kicking his first major.
Calvaresi showed a different side to his earlier smooth goal with a set shot putting them within 20 points and another Reardon moment of brilliance gave the sole 2000s representative, Sherrin Egger a goal to answer Metro's effort.
Leading by 23 points heading into the final quarter, Alex Saunders capitalised on an early Victorian mistake in the opening minute to set the tone as Jay Foon doubled it up with an outside-50 bomb.
McVeigh's third sparked a minor Metro resurgence with MacDonald grabbing his second before Grace and Saunders put the finishing touches mid-way through the last quarter.