After a bye last weekend, both the Devils’ VFL and VFLW sides return to action this Sunday with a double-header against Port Melbourne at The Borough’s home ground ETU Stadium.

It will be the second time the men have played Port Melbourne this season following their eight point win at UTAS Stadium in round two.

The Devils were soundly beaten by Southport prior to the bye and will have to reorganise their line up after key players Jaxon Artemis and Max Mapley were selected by Essendon and Melbourne respectively in the Mid-Season Draft on Tuesday night.

“We want our program to be aspirational,” Devils’ coach Jeromey Webberley said.

“It’s a nice tick off for our recruiting team in terms of their identification.

“Those guys’ [Artemis and Mapley] investment in themselves and their ability to want to get better and seek feedback – they’re extremely coachable both boys – so they thoroughly deserve their opportunity.”

The recent return from injury of former Sydney listed bigman Cam Owen has come at just the right time for Tasmania.

Owen will fill the void left by Mapley in the ruck, while Webberley may turn to some fresh faces as the side looks to cover the loss of Artemis in the back half of the ground.

“We feel like Cam will build into the year, he is coming off a limited prep with significant hamstrings so we will see the best of Cam over the next couple of months and he will fill the role of number one ruck,” Webberley said.

“We’ve got some really good talent in our squad that can play that wing and half back role.

“Riley McHenry, Nelson Beikoff Smart – there’s probably a couple of talented young individuals that we would like to give some opportunity to through the back half of the year in that position.”

After making history by playing their first ever VFLW match in round one, the Devils’ women will be eyeing their first win in the competition when they face The Borough.

Jumped by Casey in their inaugural game, the Devils were highly competitive in the second and third quarters, but conceded three goals to none in the final term and were beaten by 25 points.

“Using the momentum off round one would have been nice but I think it gave us a bit more of an opportunity to go back, do a lot of review and get some good learnings out of it,” Devil Jessie Willams said.

“Trying to get some better inside 50 connection from our mids to our forwards, I think that was a big focus for us because we were winning around the contest.”

Williams will know this weekend’s opposition and venue better than most. She played for Port Melbourne over the previous three seasons and won a premiership with The Borough in 2023.

“Certainly a ground I like playing at, quite a few games there over the past few years so it is exciting and a little bit nerve wracking in some sense,” she said.

“I’ve had a bit of a chat to each of the coaches about certain players we might need to be aware of and particular areas.”

The VFLW match starts at 10:30am on Sunday, with the VFL getting underway at 1:05pm.

The men will again be playing for the Bob Withers Cup named in honour of the Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame and Port Melbourne Team of The Century member.