St Patrick's College will be a hive of activity on Saturday with three Northern teams gunning for glory at the Sports Association of Tasmanian Independent Schools football grand finals.
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The home school's firsts and seconds boys' sides and Scotch Oakburn's senior girls are playing for the premierships.
Liam Jones captains the first team for St Pat's, who are aiming to stop Guilford Young College's hat-trick.
"The last couple of years, we haven't had the team or we've made the grand final and we've lost so in our final year - after coming right through from grade seven - it's exciting," he said
"We played them early here and we beat them. We know this ground really well and it's good to play it here in Launnie, where the home crowd is."
It was a convincing win for St Pat's last time the sides met - 12.10 (82) to 5.5 (35) but with the visiting school boasting Devils representatives Cam Owen, Jack Callinan, Bryce Alomes and Fletcher Hooker, anything could happen.
St Patrick's also have Devils of their own however, with Jones, Mitchell Nicholas, Isaac Hyatt and Josh Gillow all playing, while Will Manshanden has been impressing at the State League level.
Jones is looking forward to playing against his Devils teammates.
"There's a bit of banter between us about who's better or how we are going each weekend to see how we play."
In the girls' firsts, Scotch Oakburn battle Guilford Young, with the pair having both won the statewide title.
With the competition starting in 2018, Scotch won the 2019 title, while Guilford Young shared the 2021 premiership with Marist after they were unable to be split in extra-time.
The teams are yet to meet this year, with the girls' competition split into two regional rosters before the Northern and Southern winners face off in the grand final.
Scotch are captained by Devils player Maisie Edwards, who drew praise from Ali Foot, Scotch Oakburn's sports coordinator.
"Maisie has been a brilliant contributor to the rise of AFLW not only in our school, but for the greater northern region clubs, especially Old Scotch Football Club and East Launceston Junior Football Club, along with representing Tasmania on many occasions as part of the Devils program," he said.
"Maisie has continually pushed the girls at training to become better players and is a big reason why the girls are competing in the SATIS final."
Northern firsts teams
St Patrick's boys': Mitchell Nicholas, Oliver Woodcock-Davis, Will Manshanden, Liam Jones (C), Isaac Hyatt, Brodie Wiggins, Tiernan McCromack, Fletcher Harper, Josh Gillow, Khai Lunson (VC), Connor Leeflang, Cooper Warren, Charlie Taylor, Sam Cowley, Brayden Fellows, Conall McCormack, Jack O'Neill, Lachlan Presnell, Will Cowley, James Leake, Dylan Farquhar, Tom Graham, Codey Plummer, Ryan Berne
Scotch Oakburn girls': Ruby Vincent, Lexi Oliver, Zoe Bremner, Tegan Gofton (emerg), Mimi Brown (VC), Maisie Edwards (C), May Wain, Alice Power, Scarlett O'Keefe (emerg), Ella Nast, Sara Carter, Emma Jepson, Daisy Willows, Lucy Carter, Lucy Dennis, Charlotte Loane, Ruby Hall, Rubi Healey, Isabella Stones, Harriet Bingley, Marceline Bula, Tayla Gofton
Josh Partridge
As a sports-mad fan who loves to remain challenged, sports journalism always seemed the path for me and it's allowed me to do things I never thought possible. A keen racquet sports player, I'm experienced in that field, allowing me to do my job at a strong standard.
As a sports-mad fan who loves to remain challenged, sports journalism always seemed the path for me and it's allowed me to do things I never thought possible. A keen racquet sports player, I'm experienced in that field, allowing me to do my job at a strong standard.
