For many football clubs, a finals appearance is an achievement. For the Tasmania Devils, it feels like something bigger.

It’s difficult to separate this season from the journey that brought the club here.

The Devils are not simply another VFL team competing in another finals series. They are the beginning of something Tasmanians have been waiting generations to see.

That is why the significance of this weekend’s home semi-final extends far beyond football.

It is not just about a game. It is about a state. It is about supporters. It is about belief. And perhaps most importantly, it is about what comes next.

When the Tasmania Devils were launched, there were no guarantees around what the inaugural season would look like. Building a football team from scratch is difficult. Building a successful one is even harder.

For Jye Menzie, there was excitement about joining the club from the very beginning.

But the reality of hosting a home final in the inaugural season was not something many people expected.

“Early in pre-season we knew we had a talented team,” Menzie said.

“But whether that was going to be a finals campaign in the first year was probably out of the question.”

Yet here the Devils are. Not only playing finals. Hosting one. After securing a top-four finish and earning a double chance, the club has exceeded the expectations of many outside the four walls.

Inside them, however, belief was building much earlier.

Menzie recalls the opening rounds of the season as important moments for the group.

Strong performances against some of the competition’s best sides provided evidence that the Devils could compete with anyone.

Whether it was defeating Port Melbourne, matching powerful opposition or narrowly missing opportunities against the top teams, the playing group began to understand something important.

They belonged. Those moments created confidence. Not the loud confidence that comes from talking about success. The quieter confidence that comes from proving to yourself what is possible.

It became the foundation for everything that followed. Looking back, however, Menzie believes the season has been about much more than wins and losses.

What stands out most is the way the group has responded to challenges and grown together. At the beginning of the year there were plenty of unknowns.

Players arrived from different backgrounds, different pathways and different parts of Australia. A completely new group had to learn how to play together.

Not many people expected immediate success.

“I think there was a lot of people at the start that probably didn’t even think that we would win a handful of games this year,” Menzie said.

Instead, the group quickly developed connection, trust and belief. As results followed, so too did a growing sense that something special might be happening.

For Menzie, one of the most rewarding aspects of the season has been the opportunity to help lead that journey.

Surrounded by a talented but relatively young playing group, he has embraced the chance to share lessons and experiences while helping others pursue their own football dreams.

It is another reminder that this team is about more than the present.

Like the Tasmania Devils themselves, it is also about the future. That future is one of the reasons this season matters so much.

While the club’s AFL entry remains set for 2028, the inaugural VFL season has already provided a glimpse of what football in Tasmania can become.

“This season could have gone one of two ways,” Menzie said.

“We could have come out and been no good.”

Instead, the Devils have shown that football in Tasmania is capable of competing, attracting talent and generating enormous community support.

That support has become one of the defining stories of the season.

Throughout the year, the Devils have taken games across the state. South. North. North-West. Wherever they have travelled, supporters have followed.

For Menzie, one of the most special aspects of the season has been seeing the way Tasmanians have embraced the club.

“You can be walking down the street and there’s a little kid wearing Devils gear or a mum and dad wearing a Devils hat,” he said.

“No matter where you go in Tasmania, there’s support.”

The significance of that support becomes even clearer on game day.

Crowds have consistently exceeded expectations.

The atmosphere has built throughout the season.

And at times, according to Menzie, supporters have genuinely helped the team get across the line.

“There have been a lot of close games we’ve had where the crowd has gotten us over the line.”

It is easy to understand why. Football has always mattered deeply in Tasmania.

But this feels different. For many supporters, these are not simply games. These are moments they have waited decades to experience.

The sight of thousands of Tasmanians filling grounds, wearing Devils colours and supporting a team that represents the entire state carries a significance that extends far beyond the VFL ladder.

Perhaps nowhere has that been more evident than the home crowds.

Even Menzie admits the support has surpassed anything he expected.

“I never would have thought there would be VFL games with 10,000-plus people,” he said.

Yet week after week, supporters have shown up.

And now comes the biggest crowd of them all. A home final. For a football club that did not exist a year ago, it is a remarkable achievement.

For Tasmania, it feels like another step towards something much larger.

“It will mean the world to us,” Menzie said of the expected finals crowd.

As players feed off the energy created by supporters, supporters have in turn fed off the energy created by the team.

The relationship has become one of the defining features of the season.

A football club representing a state. And a state embracing its football club.

That connection is why Menzie hopes people remember this season as more than just a successful year. Instead, he hopes supporters see it as the beginning.

“The start of something special,” he said.

For generations, Tasmanians have dreamed of seeing a team represent them on the national stage.

The AFL journey officially begins in 2028. But in many ways, the foundations are already being built.

This inaugural Devils side will forever hold a unique place in that story. The first team. The first wins. The first finals campaign. The first home final.

And perhaps one day, when Tasmanians look back at the early years of their football club, they will remember this season not simply because the Devils made finals.

They will remember it because it showed what was possible. Not just for a football team. But for an entire state.