IN THE wake of the recent launch of the League's 19th franchise Tasmania Devils, and in the countdown to that club’s fielding of men’s and women’s teams in competition in 2028, thoughts turn to the many Tasmanians who have donned the dark Navy Blue in the days, weeks, months and years before.
A total of 66 Tasmanian-born footballers are known have represented Carlton at senior level (the first of them Launceston’s Jim Tumilty in 1910), the most recent Devonport’s Lachlan Cowan - from which a 22 and an emergency has been named.
The team includes five Carlton premiership players – George Challis and Viv Valentine (both members of Carlton’s 1915 Grand Final-winning outfit), Peter Jones (1968, ’70, ’72 and ’79), Brent Crosswell (1968 and ’70) and the late Michael Young (1979). Challis and Launceston’s Stan McKenzie chased the leather together for the Blues through season 1914 - and both later lost their lives in wartime.
Jones, named first ruck in the starting 18, is also a club Best and Fairest (1973) and former captain (1974) whose career games tally of 249 has not been bettered by a Tasmanian at Carlton before or since. Next is Levi Casboult (a distant relative of Challis’ through marriage) with 154, then Eric Huxtable (135), John Chick (119) and Simon Wiggins (116).
Arthur Hodgson, named on a wing, was the first Tasmanian-born footballer to earn the then Robert Reynolds Trophy (now John Nicholls Medal) as Carlton Best and Fairest in 1950.
Carlton’s 1945 Premiership wingman Lance Collins, though born in Beulah in Victoria’s southern Mallee, also commands a special place in Tasmanian football history.
In 1946, Collins accepted the role of captain- coach of the newly-formed Sandy Bay in the Tasmanian Football League. That very year, he commandeered the Seagulls to their first premiership and took out the League's
goalkicking honours with 50.
In ‘47, Collins captained the Tasmanian representative team in a football Carnival held in Hobart. With his team drawn to participate in Division B, Collins led the Taswegians into matches with New South Wales, Queensland
(in which he booted nine goals) and Canberra - and ultimately to overall victory in that division.
That same year, Collins captained the Tasmanian representative team in a football Carnival held in Hobart. Drawn to participate in Division B, Collins led the Taswegians into matches with New South Wales, Queensland (in which he booted nine goals) and Canberra – and ultimately to overall victory in that division.
Collins is forever remembered as the first captain to wear the famous Tasmanian foundation guernsey into the ’47 carnival.
In the lead-up to the state’s hosting of that carnival, the League arranged for the red T to be included on the yellow Tasmanian map featured in the middle of the green guernsey – a guernsey that is expected to be worn (albeit sparingly) by Tasmania Devils players into future AFL matches.
The best Tassie Blues team of 22, plus emergency, is as follows. Coach of the team is Valentine, who in being appointed Carlton Senior Coach in 1919 earns his place in history as the first Tasmanian to hold a senior VFL/AFL coaching position.
B: Greg Towns (Cooee), Liam Jones (North Hobart), Aaron Joseph (Strahan)
HB: Eric Huxtable (New Town), Brent Crosswell (Campbell Town), Tony Pickett (North Launceston)
C: Arthur Hodgson (Queenstown), Berkley Cox (City), John Chick (New Town)
HF: Michael Young (Clarence), Craig Davis (Ross), Simon Wiggins (Glenorchy)
F: Maurie Sankey (Latrobe), Levi Casboult (Hobart), George Challis (Cleveland)
R: Peter Jones (C) (North Hobart), Mitch Robinson (Lauderdale), Viv Valentine (Latrobe)
I/C: Simon Minton-Connell (North Hobart), John Heathcote (Ulverstone), James Cook (North Hobart), Lachlan Cowan (Devonport)
Emerg: Stan McKenzie (Launceston)
Coach: Viv Valentine
Assistant coach: Brendon Bolton
