By BRETT STUBBS
Tasmanian coach Mathew Armstrong -- taking charge of a team for the first time since forced out of the Devils halfway through 2006 -- was moved to tears after the 49-point win, 20.9 (129) to 11.14 (80) in front of 2879 fans.
``I am a bit emotional,'' a red-eyed Armstrong said.
``I've coached a lot of these boys for a long time. The satisfaction for me was they lifted when I needed them to lift.
``It shows the respect is there and that means a lot to me. It is good, it is important to me coming back into coaching.''
There were no passengers but two great captains in Shane Piuselli and Justin Plapp.
Piuselli, who never played for the Devils or represented his first state previously, started slowly but completely dominated the game from the midfield in the second half.
Plapp -- playing out of the goalsquare -- booted six goals and marked with authority, as the co-captains shared the Lefroy Medal for the state's best.
Tasmania started strong, with Jaye Bowden providing class with two first-quarter goals for a 22-point quarter time lead, before Queensland steadied in the second to trail by 19 at the half.
But the Maroons were having severe structural problems.
Full-forward Jason Eagle was flogged by Brennan Savage, going touchless in the first term and giving away three free kicks before being dragged to the bench.
Queensland won the clearances in the first half but were wasteful in front of goal.
Armstrong rearranged his onball brigade to start the second half, with Piuselli joined in the centre square by Glenorchy teammate Jesse Crouch.
From there the famous primrose, yellow and green jumper dominated, with Shane Wager, Rhys Long and Sam O'Keefe providing run from defence, Michael Cassidy a reliable, hard-working target across half-forward and Plapp the polish from deep forward.
Vanquished coach Jason Cotter said he felt his side struggled to match the hosts all game.
``I thought they were just a bit superior all day with keeping their feet and their clean handling of the ball,'' Cotter said.
``They had forwards [kicking] accurately, we had forward who kicked poorly. In a nutshell that was how the game panned out.
``I reckon we did fall over a lot early, that was noticeable to me, and they just ran away from contests.''
The result was a beacon of light for Tasmanian football, which had seen the Devils plummet to wooden spoons followed by extinction, a fairly insipid effort in its last state game in 2007, and an initial negative perception about a return to a state league.
But yesterday's result showed the playing talent in the new State League.
``We do OK at footy, my word we do,'' Armstrong said.
``The biggest thing I learnt with this at our first selection meeting was to pick the right characters.
``Sometimes they might not have the greatest leg speed or whatever, but pick the right characters and I really do believe to a man today we had the right characters out there.''
Last Modified on 08/06/2009 16:05