Tara Murray
Caroline Springs is hoping to build on last season’s success in the Western Region Football League women’s competition this season.
After winning their first women’s premiership last season and their reserves side finishing runners-up, the Lakers are going to go from strength to strength.
Lakers assistant coach Alex O’Shea said things had been going well during the pre-season.
“It is going really well and we’ve retained many of the players from last season,” she said. “We’ve also picked up some new recruits.
“We’re looking forward to round one against the Parkside Spurs.”
O’Shea, who was part of the club’s premiership side last season, has made the move into coaching this year.
With head coach Dean Ellis being ill, she has stepped up in the lead up to the start of the season.
She said that she was enjoying the challenge.
“We work really well as a team at Caroline Springs,” she said.
“We step in for one another, Dean, myself, Luke Baker, and Alisha Fowler and Terry Azzopardi in the reserves.
“There’s a good group of us and we work with the under-18s too. We are a whole senior women’s program.
O’Shea, who wasn’t going to play last season before changing her mind, said it was unlikely to happen again this year.
O’Shea said the group had come back in a really good mindset.
“It’s really positive and we know that previous success doesn’t mean future success,” she said.
“We have a really good culture going through the program, it’s one team, one club,
“The seniors want to go back-to-back and reserves want to go that one step further and win it this year.”
O’Shea said the majority of last season’s group had recommitted for this season which was a massive boost.
She said a lot of players had stepped up after their first season of senior football and had already shown massive improvement.
The Lakers have added some new faces as well.
Ayyen Au, Lyla Griffin and Stephanie Thompson have provided extra depth in all lines across the ground.
The Lakers got a first round win, beating the Parkside Spurs in a thriller.
The Spurs, who were formerly known as the VU Western Spurs, join the competition from the Northern Football League.
“I played there before I played with Caroline Springs,” O’Shea said.
“We know they are a new team coming in and we don’t take them lightly. We’re looking forward to having them in the competition.
“It’s always good to have new teams in the competition and it’s great for the women’s program and the WRFL.”
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