What The Tasmania Devils Jumper Means To Local Players

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Last updated: Thu 28 May 2026 10:12

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Tasmania Devils jumper symbolizes heritage, pride, and family legacy.
Local players now have clear pathways to elite football at home.
The jumper represents hope and a bright future for Tasmanian football.

The Pride of Tasmania

What The Tasmania Devils Jumper Really Means

For decades, Tasmanian football supporters waited for something they could truly call their own.

Not just representative sides or occasional state games. Something permanent. Something that belonged to Tasmania.

Now, every time the Devils run out, that dream feels a little more real.

And for players like Daniel Cooney, pulling on the Tasmania jumper carries far more weight than simply playing football.

Because before Daniel wore it, his father wore it too.

“There’s a lot of history behind Tassie,”

Cooney said.

“Having me old man, he had the honour to wear the jumper as well.”

For generations of Tasmanian footballers, representing the state has always meant something different.

Tasmania’s football culture has never needed validation from the mainland. Local clubs, rivalries and communities built the game into part of everyday life long before the Devils entered the VFL.

But there has always been a feeling that Tasmanian football deserved more.

That it deserved recognition.

That it deserved a pathway.

That it deserved a future.

Now local kids can finally see one.

For Cooney, that journey started where so many Tasmanian football stories begin — at a local club.

Clarence wasn’t just where he played football.

It was part of the family.

“I don’t think Dad would ever let me play anywhere else,” Cooney laughed.

The father-son connection runs deeply through Tasmanian football. Entire generations grow up around local clubs, watching parents pull on the same colours before eventually doing it themselves.

For Cooney, those memories shaped everything.

“Dad always wore it and I always used to copy him when I was a kid,” he said.

That simple quote says almost everything about football in Tasmania.

It’s inherited.

Passed down.

Shared between families, clubs and communities.

And now, for the first time in a long time, there’s a genuine feeling that the next generation of Tasmanian footballers may not have to leave home to chase elite opportunities.

That matters.

You can hear it in the way Devils players talk about the jumper.

“It’s a massive honour,”

Cooney said.

“I’m forever grateful for it.”

The pride isn’t manufactured.

It comes from understanding what Tasmanian football has fought through over the years. Generations of supporters watched talented local players leave the state searching for opportunities elsewhere.

Now, Tasmania finally has a football identity capable of keeping those dreams connected to home.

And the supporters feel it too.

The Devils have quickly become more than just a VFL side. They represent hope, recognition and belief that Tasmanian football belongs on the national stage.

Even internally, players understand they are building something bigger than themselves.

The excitement surrounding recent mid-season draftees wasn’t jealousy or frustration. It was pride.

Local players earning AFL opportunities through a Tasmanian pathway is exactly what supporters have wanted to see for years.

That’s why stories like Cooney’s resonate so strongly.

A Clarence junior.

A Tasmanian family.

A father who once wore the jumper.

Now the son is doing the same in front of packed local crowds who spent decades waiting for this moment.

And perhaps that’s why the Tasmania jumper already feels different.

For supporters, it represents history.

For players, it represents responsibility.

And for Tasmania itself, it finally represents a future that feels like it belongs at home.