By: Daniel Cencic
Twitter: @DC_EFL
The Eastern Ranges TAC Cup Girls are locked and loaded to launch into their second season.
Ahead of their opening round clash against the Greater Western Victoria Rebels tomorrow at Beaconsfield, Eastern Ranges female talent coordinator Jessie Mulholland is bullish about the region’s up-and-coming footballers on the eve of the new season.
The Ranges’ Georgia Macpherson, Emerson Woods, Jess Provan and Jorja Borg. PICTURE: Valeriu Campan
The Ranges finished fifth last season with a 3-2 record and will again be guided by coach Tom Humphrey.
The competition will run for nine rounds until May 20, expanding from the five-round fixture of last year.
“We’re a really tall side and our ability is a lot further from where we were last year,” Mulholland said.
“We’ve got a lot of newbies, about six or seven debutants for this weekend alone and there’s a few girls that have never played a game of football aside from our practice matches – they’re really the ones to watch this year.”
The Ranges boast a blend of top, middle and bottom-age players leading into their 2018 campaign, headlined by 2017 best and fairest Georgia Macpherson (pictured, below) and Emerson Woods who are on the radar for respective AFLW spots.
Georgia Macpherson evades an opponent. PICTURE: Jason Sammon
“They’re both in the AFLW academy – Georgia is a back-liner whose ability to take overhead and intercept marks put her on the radar,” Mulholland said.
“Emerson is one of our captains and a leader in her own right as well as her playing abilities, her fitness and her speed will hopefully do well for an AFLW spot.”
Fast-moving Tahlia Merrett, ruck Sarah Kendall, co-captain Charlotte Wilson and inside midfielder Gabriella De Angelis are among names to have all impressed this pre-season, with Mulholland excited about their prospects for 2018.
“(Tahlia) is a middle-ager so she’s got one more year with us, she’s an athlete and her running ability and stride is incredible to watch – it’ll be really exciting to see her as a top-ager next year,” she said.
“(Sarah) plays an incredible ruck role and her jumping ability and her ability to play everywhere on the field as well (is exciting).
“Gabriella is one of our smaller inside mids (and) her ability to crumb the ball and run out of the 50 is really exciting.”
Mikala Cann, coming from a basketball background has switched codes and is set to debut this weekend, along with Ashleigh Allsopp, Olivia Meagher, Mietta Kendall and Tarni Brown, the daughter of former Collingwood champion Gavin Brown, among the new names.
Despite age differences within the squad, personal development has formed a major part of the Ranges’ TAC Cup Girls side, according to Mulholland.
“A massive part of the coaching philosophy is basic skill-work,” she said.
“Obviously female football is still in its infancy so a lot of it is teaching the girls basic skills (and) also (developing) their confidence.
“A lot of the girls don’t know their abilities at the moment so when they see themselves in newspapers or they hear good, positive feedback they get a bit taken aback by it, because they’re not really used to it.
“The girls’ personal development has been massive for us.”
Holistically, Mulholland believes the TAC Cup girls program has strengthened since its inception year, with the talent pools blossoming off the back of the popularity of AFLW.
“It (the TAC Cup Girls program) is looking a lot more developed than it was last year,” Mulholland said.
“There’s a female talent coordinator in each region now so all TAC Cup squads are represented, the same as last year.
“The talent pool off the back of AFLW has obviously grown with the female football space growing so I think everyone’s still a bit unsure of how the teams are made up this year because the talent’s sort of come out of nowhere.”
Mulholland, who was appointed to her role in November, had previously worked for AFL NSW/ACT and helped found and develop Wollongong’s first-ever junior girls’ competition, in a rugby league heartland no less.
Such pathways for progression past junior girls under-14s did not exist back then, where Mulholland would later start the women’s senior team in Wollongong, winning a best and fairest and becoming president, all by age 21.
A passion to develop pathways and opportunities for female footballers has driven Mulholland in her role.
“I’ve always been really passionate about girls having the pathway to be able to play football – there’s nothing worse than being told you actually have nowhere to go,” she said.
“I was one of those girls where at under-14s I was told I couldn’t go anywhere.”
And while the TAC Cup Girls has grown into its upcoming second season, so too has the Deakin University Eastern Region Women’s Competition, expanding from nine senior teams in 2017 to 21 this year.
“A major part of the growth is we’ve been able to add another division into the women’s competition,” Mulholland said.
“Also providing that pathway – you can see at under-10s, the girls at that age are able to play with their club for the whole duration rather than having to split up or lose friends because of it.”
The Eastern Ranges TAC Cup Girls open their season against the Rebels at Beaconsfield’s Holm Park Recreation Reserve, followed by the Dandenong Stingrays and Oakleigh Chargers.
