A tough no nonsense player, John Devine played an important part in taking North Hobart through one of its most successful eras. He was acknowledged as an inspirational leader and highly successful coach.
Prior to taking the reins at North Hobart John Devine had a distinguished career at Geelong, playing 123 games for the Cats , representing Victoria in 1965.
He was vice captain and played at half back in Geelong's last premiership win in 1963 when the Cats beat Hawthorn 15.19.109 to 8.12.60. He is pictured sitting third from left in the front row.
Geelong and Hawthorn met for the third game in succession in the 1963 Grand Final. The Hawks learnt from their two previous losses and tried to use their strength to upset Geelong in the first quarter. However, they were concentrating so keenly on the physical clashes that they missed some relatively easy goals.
The trend continued in the second quarter, however, Geelong did not wilt in an absorbing struggle and gradually the sting went out of Hawthorn’s play as Geelong went into the long break with a 16 point lead.
During the third quarter Hawthorn threw everything they could at Geelong but could not get on terms with the much faster and skilful Cats. Graham Farmer’s influence on the game become more pronounced as he worked overtime to feed the ball out to his running teammates.
The Hawks begun to fade late in the third term as their hard tackling style of play begun to catch up with them.
In contrast, Geelong looked the fitter and fresher side and unleashed one of their famous dazzling bursts as they scored 3 goals in even time to open up a matchwinning lead early in the last quarter. Eventually with Bill Goggin starring and John Devine and John Watts holding up the defence, the Cats piled on 6.6 to three behinds as the margin eventually stretched out to 49 points.
A Mobil Footy Photo of John Devine in 1966.
John Devine played 102 games for North Hobart and from 1967 to 1971 took the Demons to premierships in 1967 and 1969 and then again in 1974.
In his first year as captain/coach he achieved history by taking the team from last place in the previous season to premier and became the first club to win the premiership from fourth place. He nearly achieved the distinction of a State premiership in his first year with the Demons but in one of the most controversial games ever the game against NWFU premiers Wynyard was declared a no contest. 
In the last few minutes a kick from Devine was marked within easy kicking distance by David 'Dickie' Collins. As he went back to take his kick the crowd swarmed onto the ground and milled round the North Hobart players and in the goal square. While umpires and police tried to restore order to allow Collins to take the kick 15 yards out the goal posts were torn down and shortly afterwards the behind posts disappeared. The players and umpires were escorted off the ground by the police. In the picture the goal post is visible lying on the ground in the foreground.
He was captain/coach from 1967 to 1971 and also coached again in 1974-75 and again in 1981. He represented the TFL and Tasmania six times won two State premierships in 1969 and 1974 also winning the Lefroy medal in 1968 for best Tasmanian player.
He was captain of the 1969 Tasmanian team which went to the Adelaide carnival under coach Trevor Leo. The side did not win a match despite fielding players of the calibre of Devine, Leo, Darrel Baldock, Burnie Payne and Graeme 'Gypsy' Lee.
John Devine is sitting third from the left in the front row of the 1969 Tasmanian carnival team.
In 1986 John Devine was appointed coach of Geelong. He told the players at the beginning of the season that he would demand full commitment to the football at all times. He was criticised for lacking a tactical approach and the team did not win a game until round 6 and eventually finished ninth with seven wins. He took the team to 11 wins and a tie just missing the finals the following year and in 1988 won six out the first ten games but then a season ruining run of losses followed and at the end of the season his contract was not renewed.
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John Devine - A Tasmanian Football Legend
