NAB League Girls: Gippsland Power finalises list ahead of 2022 season
Gippsland Power officials think they’ve find some ‘diamonds in the rough’ after working hard to identity female talent in the region.
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Gippsland Power have put together their squad for the 2022 NAB League Girls season.
It sounds straightforward.
It wasn’t; a lot of work was required to get girl Power going.
“Before last season we were chasing up players who’d been cut from Dandenong Stingrays to be a part of our program, so we could field a side,’’ Gippsland region manager Scott McDougal explained.
“We had to do a little bit of that to make us competitive.
“But we’ve turned it around.
“We ran talent ID nights last year after the girls season had finished, got the players in once a month for a training session and to train with the boys in the off-season. We had 12 rusted-on girls who didn’t miss a session. And then we had a bring-a-friend night and we’ve picked up girls who went to school with girls.
“A lot of our coaches are teachers and Rhett (Power coach Rhett McLennan), Chelsea Caple (female talent coordinator) and I went and watched every game of school footy we could find when they played winter sport. Through that we found five or six girls we hadn’t seen or heard of before.’’
From there, McDougal said, the club tried to make the program as “inviting, engaging and upbeat as we can, and it’s paid dividends’’.
“The litmus test hasn’t come yet but we’ve gone from having the basis of a 28-player Under 19 squad and not being able to play futures to having a full futures (Under 17) squad as well as the Under 19 squad,’’ McDougal said.
“And that’s through Covid as well. We’re starting the season off in a much better position rather than where we’ve been in the past couple of years.’’
He said he believed Gippsland Power had found some “diamonds in the rough’’.
Where other zones can tap into players from junior league flush with female players, numbers are thinner on the ground in Gippy.
McDougal said there were nine youth girls team stretched across a region synonymous with football and netball clubs.
“When you start to crunch the numbers and see how many participating girls, it’s no wonder you get some of the results we’ve had,’’ he said.
“But then you go to the other end of it and we still get good players drafted. We seem to get a girl on a list every year.’’
Melbourne ace Tyla Hanks came through Gippy, as did Jas Ferguson, who made her AFLW debut for North Melbourne last week.
McLennan said: “It was a situation where we had to do something, because only having nine teams from the start of our area to the NSW border, we had to go out and find them, because we know girls love footy. Where were they and could we keep them interested enough to possibly play the following the year (2022).
“We’ve been lucky enough to keep the ball rolling. We haven’t had many drop off, to the point where we’ve got two fairly full sides and we’ll have some headaches come selection time. It’s a better problem to have than it was trying to find players, like we were last year.’’
This year’s list features Vic Country squad member Yasmin Duursma from Foster.
Duursma, the sister of Port Adelaide star Xavier, was runner-up in the best and fairest last year.
Addison Howe and Ella Stoddart are two players for whom club officials have high hopes.
McLennan said the Power would hopefully be “more than competitive’’ in the season that starts this weekend. Gippsland visits the GWV Rebels on Saturday.
* The 2022 NAB League Girls competition will be a 10-week home-and-away season, culminating with a grand final on the weekend of April 9-10.
It’s starting earlier this year to more closely align to the NAB AFLW season.
In other changes, there will be two additional home-and-away matches per team and longer quarters (increase from 17 minutes to 20 minutes), providing players with more experience at the elite talent pathway level and exposure to AFLW recruiters.
GIPPSLAND POWER NAB LEAGUE GIRLS SQUAD
Sunday Brisbane, Phillip Island
Alexei Guy-Toogood, Tyabb
Macie Gilmour, Wonthaggi
Imogen Bradford, Phillip Island
Yasmin Duursma, Foster
Elise Molesworth, Newborough
Holly Alexander, Boisdale-Briagolong
Alisha Molesworth, Newborough
Jemma Birss, Sale City
Milla Fixter
Chelsea Sutton, Traralgon
Tylah Burn, Pakenham
Kayley Answerth, Churchill
Shanae Hawker, Pakenham
Addison Howe, Traralgon
Ash Centra, Sale City
Poppi Fleming, Sale City
Courtney Fletcher, Bass Coast Breakers
Ella Stoddart, Traralgon
Indiana Makai, Drouin
Amber Schutte, Traralgon
Tyla Angwin, Foster
Isabella Whelan, Warragul Industrials
Hayley Woolfe, South Belgrave
Lily Williamson, Traralgon
Zahri Burn, Pakenham
Shelby Crothers, Officer
Kate Caughey, Bass Coast Breakers
Leesa Guastella, Drouin
Grace Matser, Collingwood VFL
GIPPSLAND POWER NAB LEAGUE GIRLS FUTURES SQUAD
Charlotte Lines, Beaconsfield
Abbey McKenzie, Pakenham
Lydia Gudgin, Bairnsdale
Hayley Kamphuis, Churchill
Tess Wingfield, Dalyston
Haylee Mortimer, Narre North Foxes
Brooke Purcell, Officer
Katie Harris
Bronte Whyte, Leongatha
Elaina Domagala, Traralgon
Lily Jack, Pakenham
India Van Berkel, Traralgon
Ava Deszcz, Cranbourne
Sophie Scalzo, Drouin
Charlotte Grogan, Heyfield
Gabrille Foster, Bairnsdale
Charlotte Waller, Warragul Industrials
Shani Jones, Pakenham
Harper McLennan
Emily McGovern, Traralgon
Sophie Simpson, Berwick
Isabella Tabone, Pakenham
Lexi Walton, Phillip Island
Mackenzie Wain, Phillip Island
Ahlee Penry, Phillip Island
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