Tara Murray
Keilor is enjoying the new challenges being thrown at it in the Essendon District Football League women’s competition.
The Blues, who won the last two years premierships, haven’t had it their own way this year, losing five matches in the opening eight, including a run of four matches in a row.
Coach Brooke Surgeon said it was good to see that the competition had got better and there were no easy matches.
“It’s been a good challenge,” she said. “It’s been a great season so far as growth goes, it’s been more challenging across the competition.
“We lost four in a row and that was OK. It was a real learning experience for us.”
Surgeon said losing five players who played key roles last season to Victorian Football League Women’s commitments, had meant a bit of a changing of the guard.
She said it was always going to take a bit of time to figure things out.
“It’s been about bringing us together and having players play in different positions they haven’t played before,” she said.
“We’re started to tidy things up which is good for the rest of the season.”
Surgeon said even through the tough run they showed when they play good football, they are among the best teams in the competition.
They lost by one point to Aberfeldie, which is undefeated, having led all day.
The Blues returned to the winners list before the bye, with a big win against Strathmore. The Mores had beaten them in round one.
Surgeon said the result was exactly what the group needed and solidified their spot in the competition.
She said there had been plenty of positives to come out of the season so far, including some of the individual performances.
“Jessie Cameron has been solid for us,” she said.
“Sophie Pettman is playing really well and Tegan Matthews has come up from the 18s and has been phenol as a mid-forward.”
Surgeon said they would likely try to give some more under-18s an opportunity in the second part of the season, with some to age out into senior football next year.
There was a competition wide bye on the weekend due to the King’s Birthday weekend.
Surgeon said it came at a good time for them to rest some sore bodies.
She said the focus was to continue to grow this next part of the season.
“We play Westy [Westmeadows] the first week back,” she said. “We take that next block, the next phase of training and work on areas tat we need to and strength our strong areas.”
