Tara Murray
It’s a bit of short term pain for long term gain for Calder United in the National Premier League Women’s competition.
One of the powerhouse’s in the competition for a number of years, Calder’s results this year haven’t been what they’ve been the last few years,
Having lost a core group of players to Western United since it’s come in the A-League Women’s, Calder has one eye on the future.
Calder coach Kogulan Sabaratnam the club is focused on long term sustainable success and that it was a whole club approach.
“It has been a different start,” he said. “I think we have got a really good group of people.
“We are sticking with our principles that we think will hold us in good stead in the future.”
Sabaratnam said there’s two sides to every ladder positron.
He said while they weren’t getting the wins on the board, they were giving opportunities to the next generation of players coming through.
“I oversee the whole program and we have a really good group of junior sides,” he said.
“Out of the NPLW sides we have the most players 20 and under. We’ve had seven or eight start.
“Some have been at the club since they were 11 and come through the pathways.
Sabaratnam said they could have paid some big money to bring in some more experienced players, but they wanted to back their own players in.
He said the club was focused on long term sustainable success, which includes rewarding younger players.
The club recently announced the signing of three A-League Women’s players for the rest of the season.
Western United’s Lucy Richards and Nat Picak have joined the squad, along with Melbourne Victoria’s Ava Briedis.
Sabaratnam said they had allowed room in their squad at the start of the season to add some A-League players and looked to add players who fitted their age demographic and some extra experience to the group.
Calder was sitting in 10th spot after eight rounds with two wins, a draw and five losses.
Sabaratnam said they would get better as the season progresses and were hoping the results would turn their way.
While keen to get some more wins, he said they don’t want to jeopardise what they’ve been doing.
“It’s part of the process,” he said. “We can not just look at results as that can paper over the cracks.
“It’s really important way the way we are playing and we want to be winning the right way. We’re not too far away and there’s a lot of work along the way.”
Despite the results, Sabaratnam said the environment in the side remained really well and if you were in the changeroom you wouldn’t be able to tell it’s a side with just one win.
Calder was set to face Alamein on Saturday, after deadline.
Alamein won 3-2.
