The pressure was off Seth Campbell when he went out and kicked 10 goals for North Launceston on Saturday, and for good reason.
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The Burnie product was given the news he was a late addition to the AFL national draft combine on Friday.
Campbell said his selection had taken the pressure off for him to go on and dominate in the TSL game against North Hobart.
"When I missed out, I was obviously a bit flat but it gave me motivation to perform the next week," Campbell said.
"[To reach the AFL] definitely has been a dream for me since I was coming through the juniors."
He said he would be working on doing his best in the coming weeks and at the combine.
"Hopefully I can get good results out of it and gain more interest out of AFL clubs," he said.
He had reached eight majors by the final break, and said teammates had worked in the last term to get him the ball but it wasn't clicking.
"So I just went and got the ball myself and kicked two and a couple behinds," Campbell said.
Campbell made the move from Burnie to North Launceston this season along with fellow Coastal products Heath Ollington and Lachie Cowan.
Campbell said he had been working on developing his strengths this season, including his running, kicking goals and finding a lot of the ball.
He becomes the third player from the Tasmania Devils to be selected for October's draft, alongside Cowan and Clarence's Tom McCallum.
While North Launceston's Brandon Leary and Clarence's Cameron Owen have both been selected for the NAB AFL state draft combine.
On Campbell's addition, AFL Tasmania's North-West Talent Manager Jamie Hayward was full of praise for him.
"His form stacks up really, really well with other similar players in the competition," Hayward said.
"He is really difficult to match up with because of his speed and he's very clean with the ball and generally makes good decisions at speed with the football."
He said Campbell's speed and endurance made him an attractive proposition for AFL clubs.
On the success of the Devils program, Hayward said it had been building since its return in 2019.
"The success of the program across the years with the boys and girls, is not something that has happened over night, even if it looks like it from the outside," he said.
"The way the program has been built across the three regions for the last three, four years, with a couple of difficult COVID years, it's coming to fruition now the stability we've had.
"The next generation of players are starting to believe in the program."
While creating an opportunity and pathway for players to reach the elite level, Hayward said the value of the program extended beyond that.
He said the program also provided a valuable opportunity to invest in Tasmanian players who return to their community clubs and could become 250-300 game senior players and coaches.
"Overall our focus is to deliver on a number of levels and to prepare players for whatever the future holds," Hayward said.
The Devils' second placed finish in the NAB Boys League is the highest finish achieved by the program.
Hayward said the boys and girls results this season justified the need for the resurrection of the program and its continued existence.
"It's an absolute no brainer the current format is a valuable resource for Tasmanian football," he said.
"... and depending on whatever decision is made at a senior level it will become more important for development and pathways."