Stingrays finalise list for 2020 NAB League Girls competition
Dandenong Stingrays coach Dave Carden explains why he wants his players to show “clean hands” in the NAB League Girls competition this season.
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Forget wins and losses and ladder positions.
New Dandenong Stingrays Under 18 Girls coach Dave Carden says development will be his main measurement of the NAB League season, which kicks off this weekend.
The way he sees it, no one will look back on the Stingrays’ results in four years. But they make reflect on the improvement certain players showed in 2020 and how the broader game of female football evolved.
Carden joined the club last October after serving as an assistant coach under Patrick Hill at Hawthorn VFL W in 2019.
He also previously had a role with the Eastern Ranges when the Under 18 Girls competition kicked off in 2017.
Carden said the Stingrays’ program represented an Academy and was about “development, development, development’’ with a focus on the fundamentals of the game – kicking, marking, handballing, tackling, shepherding, bumping and blocking – and strength and conditioning.
“The competition we play in is the NAB League Girls but the philosophy is about building players by that Academy approach,’’ he said.
“We don’t think, ‘We have to pick a team to win this game’.
“The result we’ll look at is the players’ development, with their football and as people. As you see in the development of AFL women, people are understanding that it shouldn’t have to be a contested game. What’s now being coached is uncontested possessions and shorter kicking and freeing up and changing ball movement.
“We’ve got a massive emphasis here on clean hands. That can be clean hands in marking situations, clean hands in ground-ball-get situations, clean hands in loose-ball-get situations, because what you see is, when there’s that fumble, the congestion comes in. If we can teach clean hands and that composure and hitting targets under pressure, we’ll be really pleased.
“I would say 90 per cent of our training time focuses on the fundamentals and 10 per cent on what people sometimes call the ‘game plan’, but I just call the way we play.
“So once you’ve got the fundamentals and they get a bit more advanced in the fundamentals, you bring in some decision-making drills and you do that by adding defenders and those sorts of things.
“If you can’t do the fundamentals you can’t execute the way you want to play.’’
Carden added: “Having said all that about our focus, that’s not to say we’re not going to compete. You have to compete and test yourself against good sides and good programs, absolutely.’’
The Stingrays’ list of 50 ranges from players turning 16 this year to 19-year-olds.
Carden said he had been struck by the number of girls who had been playing football since Auskick.
He said it showed in their understanding of the game and skills.
More than a dozen players will be eligible for the draft, headed by speedster Tyanna Smith, regarded as the club’s most naturally talented and exciting player.
She was an All-Australian Under 18 selection last year.
Smith’s brother Ash also played at the Stingrays and went on to be drafted to the West Coast Eagles, where he played 45 AFL matches.
Smith and Phoebe Wilson-McDonald (Mt Martha) have been appointed vice-captains.
Rye/Sorrento’s Abbey Jordan will skipper the Rays.
Carden said Jordan had excelled in the pre-season and many other players had remarked on how welcoming and helpful she had been.
“It was amazing how many girls, unsolicited, would bring up Abbey’s name with us,’’ he said.
“Whatever it is, you know you’re going to get 100 per cent from Abbey. She’s got good speed and she’s a really good user of the ball.’’
Top-ager and key position prospect Zoe Hill (Mt Eliza) and 17-year-old Sarah Hosking (Somerville) round out the leadership group.
Carden said the Stingrays wanted to equip players who weren’t in AFL draft calculations for a shot at making VFL W lists and continuing their development.
The club has also put an emphasis on nurturing female coaches, bringing in former St Kilda VFL W player Steph Binder, Hawthorn VFL W premiership player Steph Carroll, former AFL Germany women’s national team coach Emily McKee and ex-Stingrays player Eliza Wilson-McDonald as assistants.
“That’s been an aim of ours, to develop quality female coaches for female footy,’’ Carden said.
“That’s a philosophy Darren (region talent manager Darren Flanigan) has and that I have. We were joined at the hip on it. We thought the role we could play was to give them the chance to be involved in an elite sporting program, to build up that experience and resume, and create a greater candidate pool for AFL and VFL women’s jobs.’’
Mornington Peninsula football great Daniel “Digger’’ Watts joins Binder and Carroll as line coaches.
Seb Gargana is a development coach.
The Stingrays open their season with a match against Eastern on Sunday.
DANDENONG STINGRAYS UNDER 18 GIRLS LIST
1 Zali Mayall, Mt Eliza FC
2 Keely Byrne, Mt Eliza JFC
3 Monet, Ferris, North Foxes JFC
5 Jayde Smith, Berwick JFC
6 Lily Van Raay, Mt Martha JFC
7 Bella Enno, Mt Eliza JFC
9 Ella Watts, Mt Martha JFC
10 Abbey Jordan, Rye/Sorrento JFC
11 Deeann Borsos, Devon Meadows JFC
12 Alisha Liddle, Narre North Foxes JFC
13 Jade Hillas, Devon Meadows JFC
15 Brooke Ellis, South Belgrave JFC
17 Mena Layfield, Devon Meadows JFC
18 Saige Bayne, Mt Eliza JFC
20 Phoebe Wilson-McDonald, Mt Martha JFC
21 Tyanna Smith, Beaconsfield JFC
25 Jennifer MacDonald, Devon Meadows JFC
26 Charlotte Blair, Devon Meadows JFC
27 Charley Ryan, Beleura JFC
28 Phoebe Canning, Mt Eliza JFC
30 Piper Swayn, Rosebud JFC
31 Jemma Radford, Pearcedale JFC
32 Serene Vudiniabola, Old Hailebury
33 Rhianna Clemow, Beaconsfield JFC
34 Ashleigh Richards, Beleura JFC
35 Willow Argus, Beleura JFC
37 Sarah Hosking, Somerville JFC
38 Paige Stone, Rosebud JFC
39 Hayley Monk, Somerville JFC
40 Mikayla Cipriani, Narre North Foxes JFC
42 Kate Oborn, Balnarring JFC
44 Jaide Anthony, Mt Martha JFC
45 Ella Dempster, Frankston Dolphins JFC
46 Georgia Grimmer, Beaconsfield JFC
47 Amie Carroll, Mt Martha JFC
49 Amber Clarke, Narre North Foxes JFC
52 Zoe Hill, Mt Eliza JFC
53 Claire Bould, Rowville Knights JFC
54 Eloise McCrae, Narre North Foxes JFC
55 Chloe Howes, Langwarrin JFC
58 Hazledine Zali, Rosebud JFC
59 Brooke Smith, Beleura JFC
61 Emily Shepherd, Mt Eliza JFC
62 Felicity Crank, Mt Martha JFC
63 Georgia Malkoun, Beaconsfield JFC
64 Grace Chapman, Balnarring JFC
65 Olivia Robinson, Beleura JFC
67 Maddison Baker, Mt Eliza JFC
70 Mackenzie Eardley, Beleura JFC
71 Jessica Matin, Beaconsfield JFC