Tara Murray
A familiar face will take on the senior women’s coaching role at Keilor for next year’s Essendon District Football League women’s premier division season.
The Blues recently announced Giovanni Castello as coach for the next two years.
He spent several years as part of the Blues girls junior program and coached the club’s under-18 girls to a premiership last season.
Castello said he was excited to get back into coaching at Keilor
“The role became vacant and I felt like they needed some direction,” he said. “I coached a lot of the 18s to a premiership last year.
“I think they needed a voice they had heard before and we wanted to keep them all at the club.
“I want to get us back to where we should be.”
Castello stepped away from coaching this year with his daughter, part of the Western Jets Coates Talent League program.
He said having coached many of those girls for three to four years they needed a new voice for their football journey,
The under-18s managed to win another premiership this year.
Castello said the talent in the club was one of the reasons why he was keen to take on the women’s role.
“I know most of the girls and that’s the main reason I took on the job,” he said.
“Ït’s worked the last four years and we’ve had growth in the women’s program. It’s an exciting time for us.”
After finishing second bottom this year with just two wins, the Blues are hoping to rise back up the ladder.
Castello said it would be a process building the side back up and he expected them to be more competitive next year.
“We’ll probably have half a dozen or so under-18s come up,” he said. “We might have some who left the club come back and we’re confident in getting a full list together for next year.
“The girls stuck fat with it this year showed a lot of resilience. Most of them are coming back.”
Castello said the club was really keen to increase its commitment to women’s football and they were would be plenty of growth through the ranks.
