Tara Murray
The North Sunshine Eagles have exceeded all expectations in the FV state league 5 north-west women’s competition.
Fielding a women’s side for the first time in a number of years, the Eagles were sitting in second spot heading into the weekend’s matches, which were after deadline.
Coach Lirim Selimi said this season was about getting a women’s side back out on the park and giving a platform to build from.
“The club did have a women’s side about 10 years ago,” he said. “Over the last 12 months with the new facilities at the club at More Park, having a women’s program was a big part of what we wanted to do.
“We’ve got some junior teams as well.”
Selimi said they started with a core group of 10 or 11 players but were able to increase that number to a squad of 19 after putting the call out.
He said they had a broad range of ages from 15-year-olds through to players in their 20s.
Selimi said they never expected to have the success that they’ve had so far.
“It definitely exceeded expectations,” he said. “We set no expectations, we were just happy to get the team off the ground.
“A lot of the group are young kids who want to play sport and we’re providing a spot to play.”
Selimi said the playing group had now set their own expectations for what they want to achieve for the rest of the season.
“We are aiming for top spot,” he said. “We’ve really improved and the girls have got used to winning, so the girls have set winning expectations.
“The motivation is there to win every game and try and get top spot.”
While the Eagles have an eye on results this year, this is only the beginning for the group and the club’s female program.
Selimi said they were hoping to expand the program next year and even further in the coming years.
“We’ve got a couple of junior girls teams and a couple of mixed teams this year,” he said.
“We want to get another team to help those in the under-15 age group. They can come up through MiniRoos and then under-10s and 11s before stepping into that under-15 age group.
“Under-18s is also a possibility, that is what we would like to do. Hopefully to promote the juniors through to seasons.”
The Eagles were set to face Doreen United on Sunday, after deadline.
They came away with a 5-1 win.
