Roos and Demons tackle preseason

TOUGHEN UP: Holly Smith and Belinda O’Dine push each other to the limit during a training session for the West Gambier/Port MacDonnell women’s football team at Malseed Park. Picture: TREVOR JACKSON

WITH the Limestone Coast Women’s Football League competition set to kick off on February 3 next year, West Gambier and Port MacDonnell have combined to provide a perfect platform for females to play the game of Australian Rules football.

The side is coached by Graham Gill, who said he was pleased with the attendance at training and the enthusiasm shown.

“It has been a huge learning curve for most of them,” he said.

“They have really adapted to it and really want to run with it.”

Gill said the idea of the joint effort between West Gambier and Port MacDonnell was simply to better facilitate the women who wanted to play the sport.

“It was all about giving girls from both regions who wanted to play footy the opportunity,” he said.

“Last year some of the girls from Port MacDonnell had to go to Kalangadoo or Glencoe.

“We are just trying to bring them closer to their own region.

“So far it is working well.”

Gill said he was also impressed with the skills on display, from novices to those who have previously played the game.

“We have a really good eclectic mix of players,” he said.

“We have some absolute novices who have already developed well – they have just blossomed.

“Then we have some young ones who have great skills and hand-eye coordination.”

The league itself is still in its infancy, but Gill said there was no shortage of passion from the women involved.

He said he hoped to see that continue into the future.

“The main thing for me is to see the improvement,” he said.

“As a team we would like to improve on last year’s result, but we just want to get more people involved.

“We want to get to the point in the next couple of years where people come up to us and ask to play, where we can possibly form another team.

“We also want to be competitive and we want to be out there, so girls from 15 to 50 can simply walk in and have a go.”

Anyone interested in playing for the West Gambier/Port MacDonnell side can simply pop into training, which is set down for Tuesdays and Thursdays each week, alternating between Malseed Park in Mount Gambier and Port MacDonnell oval.