Mixed results for Northern TSL sides but Thorp proud of Blues' performance

The Demons were looking to cause a major upset as they were in front at half-time but North Launceston came back and doubled the home side's goals in the second half for their ninth-consecutive win.

"We took a while to get rolling and couldn't get the game on our terms, we had moments where we didn't defend well enough and allowed them to get some easy goals," North Launceston coach Adrian Smith said.

"North Hobart are obviously improving, they are a good footy club and they played really well today in terms of taking away some of our strengths."

Michael Stingel impressed through the midfield as Leary and Harvey Griffiths both booted four and Harry Bayles provided run off half-back.

Across at Bellerive Oval, Launceston showed resilience after a slow start, going down to Clarence 16.9 (105) to 8.4 (52).

The Kangaroos led by 48 points at the first break, with Launceston scoring only a solitary behind but coach Mitch Thorp was proud the Blues matched it with the home side for the rest of the contest.

"After the first, I thought this could be a long one but it doesn't surprise me that the boys dug in," he said.

"For three quarters, the boys did a really good job against a really good side ... plenty of growth, poor first quarter and our brand and method got going after that."

Josiah Burling had his best game since returning to the TSL, collecting 38 disposals, while Dylan Riley was stationed in defence and settled the game for the Blues.

As they "did some strange things", Sam Foley played well in the ruck and Lenny Faulkner and Jacob Wheeler had strong games in their fledgling careers.