SFNL: Bentleigh’s Taryn McGaw becomes the first women’s footy player to reach 100 games

Bentleigh’s Taryn McGaw is set to celebrate a Southern league women’s footy first this weekend. Inside her journey.

Bentleigh's Taryn McGaw in action. Picture: Supplied.

Bentleigh’s Taryn McGaw is set to celebrate a special milestone this weekend after notching her 100th senior appearance.

It’s believed that McGaw is the first women’s player to play 100 senior matches in the Southern league.

As coach Declan Reeves puts it: “She’s part of the furniture”.

McGaw has been at Bentleigh right from the formation of its women’s program – and the SFNL women’s competition – in 2017, and has barely missed a game.

Saturday’s match against Murrumbeena will actually be McGaw’s 101st, but she wanted to save the celebrations for her home crowd, with Bentleigh playing host to Murrumbeena on Saturday afternoon.

McGaw herself is the first to admit the formative years of her football career were modest.

“I had never played footy before, I just thought I’d give it a go,” McGaw said.

“I reckon I used to run away from the ball for about three years.”

Bentleigh's Taryn McGaw in action. Picture: Supplied.

Reeves added: “She wasn’t a good player initially, it probably took her three or four seasons to find her feet in footy”.

“Since 2022 she’s taken it a little bit more seriously and worked hard to improve, she’s become a vital piece of our team.

“She mostly plays on the wing because of how fit she is and how far she’s willing to run, even if it is unrewarded most of the time which sums her up as a person as well, very unselfish and willing to do whatever it takes to get over the line.”

For a handful of years McGaw also juggled netball with football, and has held roles on the committee and been a driving force behind social functions and connecting the men’s and women’s football programs as well as netball together off-field.

Around the club, everyone knows her name, she knows everyone because she’s so bubbly and goes to heaps of men’s games … she’s a very glue type of person,” Reeves said.

When McGaw looks back, the team’s first win and her first goal are among her highlights.

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“Getting my first goal, that was in my third year of playing. I’m pretty sure I was playing in the forward line the whole time too,” she laughed.

“So it was good to get my first goal, and having all the girls get around me I still remember it.

“Winning our first game … we lost almost every game for a good few years.

“We were a bunch of girls who were only there for social reasons and just wanted to have a run around, once we won our first game that was pretty special.”

This season, the Demons have a 7-4 record ahead of round 12 this season and sit third on the ladder.

McGaw has since enjoyed watching the Bentleigh women’s side – and women’s football in general – flourish.

“Watching the skill level of those girls that have played since juniors is insane, watching that grow over the years,” McGaw said.

“This year we have so many younger girls and their skill level is amazing, they teach us (older players) so much as well on how to play footy properly and have that footy mindset too, we never used to have that.”

While wanting to reiterate that she still “isn’t an amazing player”, McGaw said it was “pretty cool” to reach the 100-game milestone.

“I didn’t realise how much everyone’s getting around the milestone, I didn’t think it was that big of a deal” she said.

“When you look at it it’s pretty cool, being the first female in SFNL and seeing the growth.

“It’s made me reflect on my time at Bentleigh and how much the whole program has grown.”