RARELY has a crowd so great been let down by a team which performed so poorly.
In the context of the Devils' back-from-the-grave season in winning 10 VFL games in a row, that may sound pretty harsh.
Yet it's a verbal haymaker they must take on the chin before being able to remedy the ills responsible for yesterday's second semi-final massacre by the Carlton-aligned Northern Bullants before a record crowd of
11,456 at Bellerive Oval.
Devils coach Mathew Armstrong took the first step by being totally honest about the 18.19 (117) 5.14 (44) scoreline.
"In a nutshell, they had bigger, stronger and better bodies than we did," he said.
"It was our achilles heel for the first 10 rounds and it shone out even more today.
"We just didn't have a big bloke up forward to take the pressure off Justin Plapp who, to be honest, isn't really a key-position player.
"The Bullants took their opportunities in front of goal, especially early, whereas we missed ours."
Armstrong moved his under-sized chess pieces every which way, but it was checkmate at every turn.
"They were a few centimetres taller than us all over the ground and I think that really counts in finals," he said.
"But full credit to our players for doing what they've done after being so far down the mine early in the season. That took a pretty special effort."
Early on, the fans cursed the big Bellerive scoreboard for breaking down and forcing ground announcer Dan Garlick to keep the bemused crowd updated.
After the Bullants' third-quarter blitz to break the game wide open in slamming on 8.1 to 3.5, they would have liked the PA system to pack it in a well!
And, to rub salt into the wounds, former Tasmanian Simon Wiggins was the equal leading goalkicker for the Bullants with three with Ross Young.
The Bullants flooded the Devils' forward line, where Justin Crow rationed Plapp to just one goal, Josh Vansittart had the better of captain Ben Beams, and Jordan Bannister and Jordan Clark provided height and rebound respectively.
Good Devils players were as hard to find as dry ground in New Orleans.
Nathan Grima did his AFL draft chances a lot of good by closing down 198cm centre half-forward Setanta O'hAlpin until the game was almost over.
Matthew Geappen and Ben Setchall were busy if outnumbered onballers, Travis Ronaldson rucked tirelessly and Ian Callinan was productive after a slow start.
Coach Barry Mitchell said a big motivating factor for the Bullants was restoring lost pride after being massacred by Sandringham by 87 points in the second qualifying final the week before.
"No one gave us much chance after that," Mitchell said.
"But the fact that we finished second on the ladder and Tassie finished sixth and yet we had to play down here was more than a bit of a rev up for our boys," he said.
2nd semi-final
NORTHERN BULLANTS 2.4 6.4 14.5 18.9 (117)
TASMANIA 1.3 2.7 5.12 5.14 (44)
Goals: Nthn Bullants: Wiggins 3 Young 3 Davies 2 O'hAilpin 2 Bryan 2 Johnson 2 Chambers Russell Vansittart Bentick. Tasmania: Callinan 2 Atkin Plapp Beams.
Best: Nthn Bullants: Bannister Crow Bentick Davies Wiggins Bryan. Tasmania: M Geappen B Geappen Grima Ronaldson Lonergan Callinan.
Reports: Nil. At Bellerive Oval. Crowd: 11456
Last Modified on 05/09/2005 15:20