The 2009 AFL Tasmania TSL premiership season was an Australian rules football competition, staged across Tasmania, Australia over eighteen roster rounds and six finals series matches between 4 April and 19 September 2009.
This was the first season of a return to statewide football after a hiatus of eight seasons caused by the collapse of the former TFL in December 2000.
The League was known as the Wrest Point Tasmanian State League under a commercial naming-rights sponsorship agreement with Wrest Point Casino in Hobart.
Participating Clubs Burnie Dockers Football Club Clarence District Football Club Devonport Football Club Glenorchy District Football Club Hobart Football Club Lauderdale Football Club Launceston Football Club North Hobart Football Club North Launceston Football Club South Launceston Football Club
2009 TSL Club Coaches Justin Plapp (Burnie) Brett Geappen (Clarence) Errol Bourne (Devonport) Ben Reid (Glenorchy) Todd Lewis & Graham Fox (Hobart) Cam De Gooyer (Lauderdale) Adam Sanders (Launceston) Matthew Geappen (North Hobart) Chris Whitford (North Launceston) Luke McLean (South Launceston)
Wrest Point TSL (Reserves) Grand Final Launceston 12.12 (84) v Glenorchy 4.13 (37) – Bellerive Oval
Statewide League (Under-19's) Grand Final Lauderdale 10.11 (71) v Clarence 4.3 (27) – Bellerive Oval
Leading Goalkickers: Tasmanian State League Brad Dutton (Clarence) – 75 David Hunt (Glenorchy) – 52 Robbie Devine (Nth Hobart) – 50 Darren Crawford (Nth Launceston) – 50
Medal Winners Kurt Heazlewood (Devonport) – Tassie Medal Brett Geappen (Clarence) – Darrel Baldock Medal (Best player in TSL Grand Final) Brett Geappen (Clarence) – Cazaly Medal (TSL Premiership coach) Brad Dutton (Clarence) – Hudson Medal (TSL Leading goalkicker) James Lovell (Burnie) – Eade Medal (Reserves) Rhys Williamson (Lauderdale) – Under-19's Medal (Statewide U/19's) Simon Dudgeon (Lauderdale) – John Leedham Medal (Southern U/17's) Shane Piuselli (Glenorchy) & Justin Plapp (Burnie) – Lefroy Medal (Best player/s in Interstate match)
Interstate Matches Representative Match (Saturday, 7 June 2009) Tasmania 20.9 (129) v Queensland 11.14 (80) – Att: 2,879 at Bellerive Oval
TSL records
Highest Club Scores 30.20 (200) – Burnie v Nth Launceston 14.11 (95) – 9 May 2009 at West Park Oval 24.25 (169) – Burnie v Hobart 7.9 (51) – 13 June 2009 at West Park Oval 25.15 (165) – Glenorchy v Burnie 14.10 (94) – 5 September 2009 at Bellerive Oval
Lowest Club Scores 0.7 (7) – Sth Launceston v Burnie 5.11 (41) – 11 July 2009 at West Park Oval 2.10 (22) – Hobart v Lauderdale 4.7 (31) – 1 August 2009 at TCA Ground 4.3 (27) – Lauderdale v Glenorchy 21.14 (140) – 27 June 2009 at KGV Football Park
Highest Individual Quarter Club Scores 11.4 (70) – Burnie v Hobart 1.1 (7) – (1st Quarter) – 13 June 2009 at West Park Oval 10.6 (66) – Burnie v Nth Launceston 0.3 (3) – (2nd Quarter) – 9 May 2009 at West Park Oval 10.5 (65) – Glenorchy v Lauderdale 1.0 (6) – (1st Quarter) – 27 June 2009 at KGV Football Park
Highest Individual Goalkickers (Match) 9 – Darren Crawford (North Launceston) v Clarence – 17 May 2009 at Aurora Stadium 8 – Jarrod Price (South Launceston) v Burnie – 18 April 2009 at Youngtown Memorial Ground 8 – Brad Davis (Burnie) v North Launceston – 9 May 2009 at West Park Oval 8 – Brad Dutton (Clarence) v Lauderdale – 23 May 2009 at Bellerive Oval 8 – Brad Dutton (Clarence) v North Hobart – 30 May 2009 at North Hobart Oval
The Return of Statewide Football For the 1986–2000 Statewide competition, see Statewide Football in Tasmania
After a hiatus of eight years, during 2008, AFL Tasmania announced plans for a return of the Tasmanian State League in 2009.
The concept attracted widespread public and media debate on the return of a statewide competition, with many in the football world hesitant over such a move due to the perilous financial position most of the participating clubs were left in after the previous competition was disbanded in 2000.
Many believed the push for a return of the league was a direct result of the media and the Tasmanian State Government's strong campaign in getting a Tasmanian team admitted into the AFL.
Under the AFL Tasmania plan, ten (10) clubs were invited to join the competition.
Clarence, Glenorchy, Hobart and North Hobart along with former Southern Amateur club Lauderdale in the South.
North Launceston, South Launceston and Launceston from the North and Devonport and Burnie Dockers from the North West Coast.
The response from many clubs was initially lukewarm at best with many concerned at the lack of detail in the AFL Tasmania plan and the rushed decision-making process of the move.
Ulverstone Football Club from the North West Coast bowed to pressure from its playing list and some factional groups within the club to put in a submission to join the TSL in 2009.
Despite a membership vote narrowly ending in favour of joining, the Robins had missed the AFL Tasmania enforced deadline and were initially to be included in the 2010 TSL Roster, however the remaining clubs (most notably its closest and most bitter rival Devonport) exerted considerable pressure upon the League not to alter the current makeup of teams for a period of ten years, therefore Ulverstone were excluded from joining.
SFL Premier League club Kingborough also lobbied AFL Tasmania to be included in the competition, but their case for inclusion was dismissed by the game's governing body due to their inadequate facilities and poor standard Kingston Beach Oval headquarters.
Former TFL club New Norfolk (1947–1999) was not invited to join the league because of their poor financial plight, however after the Eagles won the SFL Premiership with an undefeated season in 2009, there were calls to return them to top-flight status, however AFL Tasmania stated that there were no plans on the horizon to include a New Norfolk team in the competition in the near future.
As a result of the competition resuming, the Tasmanian Devils were removed from the Victorian Football League and were wound up.
On Monday 8 December 2008, the Wrest Point Tasmanian State League was launched at Wrest Point Casino in Hobart.
On 4 April 2009, the opening match of the reformed TSL competition took place at KGV Football Park between the reigning premiers of the SFL Premier League, Glenorchy and reigning NTFL premier Launceston and resulted in a 21-point triumph to the Blues.
The match was brought forward from Round 17 and billed as the "Battle of the State Premiers" given the extra spice created when the two clubs were due to meet at North Hobart Oval at the end of the 2008 season to play off for the Tasmanian State Premiership, but the match was called off due to Launceston's refusal to come to the Capital and participate in the match due to financial costs involved, with the NTFL refusing to fund the Blues match costs as the SFL had done with Glenorchy.
Season summary As the season commenced Glenorchy, Launceston and Burnie were touted amongst most of the State's football writers as premiership favourites with Clarence also looming on the horizon as an ever-present threat.
Poor weather would plague the season, with several grounds falling victim to heavy Winter rain across the State, Hobart received its wettest Winter since 1954 (and wettest year since 1958), rendering most grounds into quagmires, most notably the TCA Ground, KGV Football Park, Lauderdale Oval and North Hobart Oval all being closed by their respective Councils for long periods or even having matches moved away from them.
Both West Park and Devonport Oval would also suffer from the deluge and similarly would end up in very poor condition.
As it panned out, Burnie and Glenorchy led the competition for almost the entire season, with Clarence making a late charge after an indifferent start to the season.
Launceston, despite getting off to a winning start would suffer from many injuries during the season and struggle to put their best side on the ground for lengthy periods and as a result struggled for consistency but still managed to make the finals.
Devonport coach Errol Bourne had written off his young side's chances before the season had started stating that they would be just making up numbers, but after a strong start, the Coastal Magpies would fall into a heap in the middle part of the season losing six games in a row before they made a last-ditch effort to secure a finals berth, their mission accomplished after a tremendous victory over Hobart at the TCA Ground in which they trailed by 35-points during the final quarter in heavy conditions.
North Hobart, North Launceston and Hobart would battle it out in the latter rounds of the season for the last finals spot, the Demons produced a fine victory in heavy rain at West Park to lock in sixth spot, while a woefully out of form North Launceston would lose three of their final four matches to drop out and Hobart, under the guidance of stalwart Graham Fox after coach Todd Lewis' mid-season resignation, with a youthful side had produced some excellent wins throughout the season after a nightmare start, but ultimately poor percentage and narrow losses to Lauderdale twice (the latter in near hurricane-like conditions at the TCA Ground which was close to being abandoned at half-time where only one goal had been scored) and Devonport (mentioned above) would come back to haunt them.
As newly qualified players from the Southern Amateur contest, Lauderdale were having difficulty winning games owing to their lack of State League experience, although they played well at home. At the same time, there was a youthful South Launceston team that came last.
The finals series featured a Top Six for the first time, this was designed to give the finals series a more even blend of sides from the North and South owing to the uneven roster so as to ensure clubs played more games in their home regions rather than large numbers of away games to keep the travel costs for clubs to a minimum.
Clarence took on North Hobart at Bellerive Oval on 29 August in the First Elimination Final, the Roos were untroubled all day in heavy rain to race away to a convincing 43-point win whilst that night, Devonport Oval staged a night Second Elimination Final between Devonport and Launceston.
Also played in atrocious conditions, the Magpies posted a 35-point half-time lead and kept the Blues goalless, a third quarter rally saw Launceston hit back, but Devonport kept the Blues again goalless in the final quarter to run out convincing 37-point winners to book a date with Clarence.
The First Semi Final between Clarence and Devonport was originally scheduled for Sunday, 6 September at North Hobart, but owing to a week of constant heavy rain in Hobart, North Hobart Oval was closed by the Hobart City Council after junior football had inexplicably been allowed to be played on the ground during torrential rain the previous weekend which turned the ground into a waterlogged quagmire.
Fearing a backlash from the Southern Football League and the Old Scholars Football Association over the condition the ground would be left in after another match at the venue (both competitions had booked the ground to hold their Grand Finals in the coming weeks), AFL Tasmania then at the last minute, controversially switched the date and venue of the match back to the Saturday and moved it to Bellerive Oval as a curtain-raiser to the Glenorchy and Burnie Second Semi Final which prompted extreme outrage from the North West Coast media and the Devonport Football Club over the decision.
This meant that for the first time since 1921, no finals football was staged at North Hobart Oval.