Tara Murray
Spotswood is aiming to continue to build its women’s program in the Western Region Football League.
After having played off in the last two grand finals, the Wolves have become the second club to field two women’s sides in the WRFL.
For Wolves co-coach Ian Allen it’s pretty exciting to have the opportunity to have two sides. He said the girls had build a really strong culture at the club and it was a place people wanted to be.
“We’ve got two sides now, it was a slow burn to get there,” he said.
“It’s something that we aimed to do. As we know girls fall out of trees close to the season and it started to gain momentum and we were able to grow to two sides.
“We want to make sure girls in both sides are feeling conformable and that we had the right amount of numbers.”
The Wolves division 1 team is undefeated after three rounds.
Allen said the biggest thing for the side was they were starting to see the players take some more responsibility for what they are doing.
“We play a pretty good brand of footy,” he said. “The thing for Chris [Grant] and me, the girls are really taking ownership now of what Chris and myself have developed over a few years now.
“That is what it is about with us coaches, the girls have confidence in what they are looking to do and want to take their footy to another level.”
On Saturday, the Wolves were too strong for Parkside Spurs. It was a new challenge for the Wolves, with the Spurs switching to the competition in the off season.
“They came from the Northern League,” he said. “They had a great game against Caroline Springs a couple of weeks ago, beaten by a point.
“Our girls played four good quarters of footy. We jumped them a bit. We’re expecting a bigger challenge next time we play them.”
The final margin was 18.17 (125)-0.3 (3).
Maddison Cooper kicked six goals for the Wolves and was named best on ground. Jacinta Reid kicked four goals.
Having started the season well, Allen said it was now about maintaining that level throughout the rest of the year.
“Every week is a challenge,” he said. “We’ll have a slow build as these girls start to gel a bit more and get stronger as the weeks go on.
“Our main focus is the girls are together and really comfortable that effort each week will be completely different.
“They will learn things as they go. The main thing is to make sure when we get to finals this year, we know what they are about.”
The Wolves division 2 side had a 3.5 (24)-3.5 (23) against West Footscray.
In other women’s results, Werribee Centrals upset Caroline Springs, 8.9 (57)-2.5 (17), while Yarraville Seddon Eagles, was too good for Point Cook Centrals, 7.11 (53)-3.1 (19).
In division 2, Caroline Springs beat Point Cook, Braybrook accounted for North Sunshine and Wyndhamvale beat Laverton.
