Tasmanian Devils unveil AFL mascot

That was the brief given to chief designer and footy greenhorn Bryony Anderson, of Terrapin Puppet Theatre in Hobart, when she set out nine months ago to create Rum’un - the mascot for the Tasmania Devils AFL team.

The fruits of her labour were unveiled on Tuesday.

She suspected it would be a smash hit judging by the reaction of kids at Howrah Primary School, who got a sneak peak to test the waters last month.

“The signs were really good when the devil got mobbed for half an hour solid and left the room to a spontaneous chant…‘devil, devil’,” Bryony said.

“I really hope that people just feel that it’s their devil.”

Terrapin approached the Tasmania Football Club with an offer to make Rum’un.

“They [Terrapin] asked me if I would like to work on it and I said if we could include community and Palawa playwright Nathan Maynard involved in the character.

“We worked with Nathan and he wrote an origin story for the character, which is epic: born with a football in its mouth in the mountains, of gravel and struggle, and that informed the character.

“Then I went out and spoke to teams on training grounds, I had a sketch and said what do you reckon?

“They said it had to be kick-ass, have bloody knees to represent the players from Queenstown on the gravel, it had to have tatts.

“Some wanted full-arm tats but some of the girls at Clarence modified that to the Tassie tat, and not be too scary because some of the Auskick kids might get frightened, so make it cheeky instead.

“So I went for cheeky with a little bit of ‘don’t mess with me’.

“They had heaps of ideas and I did my best to incorporate them all.”

After gathering old school uniforms, Bryony spent a week at New Norfolk with schoolkids cutting them into strips.”

With community connection at the forefront, Tasmania chairman Grant O’Brien said it had resulted in some elements of fun that only children could be capable of creating.

“There was a tour done of the state to get to schools and get input on what their mascot should look like,” he said.

“They’ve been able to implement a good number of things that the kids wanted.

“The kids wanted, for instance, the mascot to be able to poo. Now, only kids could come up with that.

“So you can put things in the mouth of the mascot and out comes a ball.

“When you see the mascot, it’s covered in the school uniforms. These are things that we’re doing to try to make sure that we’ve got the right connection, that it reflects Tassie and that people feel part of it.

“All the kids that have been part of that will feel an ownership.”

STADIUM STILL ON TRACK: TASSIE PRESIDENT

Tasmania chairman Grant O’Brien has categorically shut down suggestions that the team’s stadium timeline has been set back, despite construction being yet to start on the showpiece facility at Macquarie Point.

As Tasmania eyes two key football posts - and early success - as it marks its “first birthday” as the Devils, O’Brien has maintained that the “generational opportunity” presented by the stadium is “not behind”.

“First one is what’s got to be done to deliver this thing on time, and the government put in place the Project of State Significance process, and that’s got a legislated timeframe,” O’Brien told this masthead.

“That timeframe has to spit out a decision in September this year. On the basis that we get planning approval, we’re underway.

“When people talk about ‘it’s behind’ or worried about it, it’s not right.

“The process has been known since September last year, because it’s a 12-month process and it’ll pop out at 12 months on the dot. It’s not behind.”

A six-person panel is currently examining some 5,000 pages of reports compiled by the Macquarie Point Development Corporation, which encompasses elements such as heritage assessments, urban planning and the $780 million stadium’s potential economic impact.

The project still has to pass through both of Tasmania’s houses of parliament, with the stadium a crucial part of Tasmania’s licence agreement with the AFL, which will see the team join the competition in 2028.

But O’Brien, in an expansive interview on the eve of the club’s anniversary on Tuesday, said the lengthy timeline had always been part of the club’s plans.

“Some of the coverage of that’s (the supposed delay) not been either accurate or particularly helpful, because it makes people worry,” he said.

“I would also say that the second part of this for me is understanding how this sort of infrastructure gets delivered, no matter what the city.

“You’re going to get a lot of feedback. Whether it’s heritage related or neighbourhood related or economic concerns.

“I went back through the chronological history of the Adelaide Oval, and I reckon we’re getting off light compared to what Adelaide went through.

“As (Devils CEO) Brendon (Gale) has said, there’s no good time to build these things.

“The reality is, this is a great opportunity for the state. This is a generational opportunity for Tassie which, along with the club, will be transformational from the state.

“Yes, football will be played there but it will be seven events out of hundreds of events that will take place in the stadium. That’s just the nature of how this has come to be.

Grab this opportunity and run with it.”

THE JOBS

Appointing a coach is on the agenda for 2026 — more than two years before the men’s team is forecast to enter the AFL competition.

But O’Brien said two key football appointments were more pressing and would be in place before a coach is sought.

“We’ve just gone to market for three different positions, two of which are general manager of footy and the list manager,” he explained.

“The football department now has to grow and Brendon needs those sorts of people in place. “The number of people will grow greatly over the next 12 months.”

And the phone has already been running hot — before the jobs have even been advertised.

“Before we’ve gone anywhere near the market, we’ve had many, many approaches from very senior people who are in the AFL system already,” O’Brien said.

“Because they, like Brendon, I think see the unique opportunity to start a club from zero.

“Your fingerprints are all over it more than any other role that you would undertake within the AFL system. That has great appeal to – not everyone – but some very high-quality candidates who have already made approaches. Some of them Tasmanians, others not, and the reality is to have the very best it will be a shandy of both locals and also those who have got the right sort of experience in AFL.

“What’s really important, I know to the AFL but certainly to us, is that we have a level of success from very early doors. The AFL have made their expectations really clear and we are putting things in place that are going to give us the best chance to do that, and that largely relies on the quality of people that you attract to the club.”

THE NUMBERS

The Devils have turned one and like any infant, “now it’s time to walk”, O’Brien laughs.

One surge that has surprised even the chairman has been tangible.

“Tassie, 20 years ago, had the highest per capita participation in football of any state. It was higher than Victoria. Since 2001, it’s been on the slide,” he said.

“The taskforce studies revealed that if nothing was done, state basketball would overtake football as the number one sport in Tassie by 2030 if nothing was done.

“That was written before the JackJumpers (NBL team) were actually in place, so you can imagine that that actually accelerated with their success.

“One of the most motivating statistics for me has been to see an increase in participation across the state of 27 per cent, and more excitingly for me was that the Auskickers went up 40 per cent.

“In the south of the atate, the Auskickers went up by 104 per cent. Ands thy’re all running around with Devils shirts on.”