Steady as it goes for premiership Devils

IT’S business as usual as Darley counts down the weeks to the opening of its BFNL premiership defence.

Rarely has a reigning premier transitioned so smoothly from one season to the next, with the Devils managing to retain all but one of their premiership players from last year’s stirring triumph over Sunbury.

It’s an ominous sign from a club that achieved the ultimate flag glory off the back of an imposing 20-game winning streak.

The Devils tasted defeat only once all season, and by just 12 points against Melton in round one

Six weeks into their post-new year training block, two-time Devils premiership coach Dan Jordan can sense a continued hunger and clear resolve on the part of the Devils to meet the challenges of the 2026 season head-on.

“It’s always an exciting time of year, everyone resets and is excited and confident about how they will go for the upcoming year,” he said.

“In terms of us, we have just focused on our preparation and what we think is the best formula for us to be best prepared for the year.

“Coming off the back of a pretty strong year, we haven’t tinkered with too much.

“We have pretty similar personnel and a few more young guys coming through challenging for spots, which is good.

“We haven’t actively gone out and recruited anyone because we think that or development from within our senior core is pretty set.

“We just tinker with a few small things with our game plan to try and keep evolving.

“We are under no illusions that everyone is going to be chasing us pretty hard.

“We welcome that challenge.”

Jordan believed being the hunted would give the Devils all the motivation they needed to back up their stellar 2025 campaign.

 

“They (the players) have always had that mentality; they’ve embraced every challenge within a season, within a game, within a quarter. They seem to find something,” said Jordan, who signed an extension midway through last season to coach on in 2026.

“I guess my job is just to prepare them with the tools to be able to do that.

“They are a really strong-minded group.

“We probably learnt a little out of a premiership in ’23, going into ’24 and how we prepared.

“We’ve had a good chat about that, about what we can learn going into 2026 off the back of another premiership in ’25.

“The boys are starting to get really keen and excited for the season to come around. It’s pretty close now.”

A thorough preparation for the Devils will extend to their practice match schedule with a couple of tough hit-outs lined up.

They will play Essendon District league powerhouse Keilor on 14 March and Geelong league club Leopold on 28 March.

Keilor, coached by Collingwood great Mick McGuane, finished runners-up to Strathmore in 2025 and were premiers in 2024, while Leopold played in three consecutive grand finals from 2022 to 2024, winning two before narrowly missing out on finals last year.

From last year’s premiership lineup, ruckman Jarman Impey is the sole player loss for the Devils.

The 19-year-old former Ballarat Miners basketballer has joined WAFL club Swan Districts.

Jordan said Impey’s move across the Nullarbor came with the club’s full blessing.

“He still has AFL aspirations and is still very young,” he said.

“This gives him a different opportunity, which is great for him.”

Among the other minimal losses, Riley Matricardi – a premiership player in 2023 – has departed for Hepburn after playing only five senior games last season.

Jordan said the loss of some players on the fringes of the senior team would open up opportunities for some of the club’s young talent to play a role.

“Our core is much the same, but I guess a little bit of the unknown, we have got a few boys at VFL level which we will have to wait and see where they get to,” he said.

“It’s not unlike most BFNL clubs, they have VFL-listed players.

“You probably plan to play without them, but if they play it’s a bonus.”

Importantly, despite the odd niggle here and there on the training track, the Devils look to have a clean bill of health heading towards their opening round encounter against Sunbury on 11 April at Darley Park.

A tough first four rounds for the Devils also includes East Point, crosstown rival Bacchus Marsh and Melton, all finalists last season.

Jordan said the hunger within the four walls at Darley Park was not exclusive to the playing group, with he himself driven by sustained club excellence.

“My goal coming here four or five years ago was to really try and set the club up for sustained success, and I feel at the top end there’s a few things I would really like to challenge our group to get to,” he said.

“I think the whole-of-club strength is getting to a place that we want to be, in terms of women’s footy, netball, they’re both really strong now.

“I’d love to get our 18s and reserves competing in the higher end of finals.

“To get there (football) teams deep into September would be great.

“I’m still enjoying it and the club is still showing faith in me.

“While that continues to happen and I can commit to it 100 per cent, I’ll continue to do it.”

The Devils will enter the 2026 season as not only reigning senior football premiers, but also in A-grade netball and senior women’s football.