FOOTY fever will strike again across the region when the Limestone Coast Women’s Football League 2019 season kicks off tomorrow.
It will be the third season of the South East competition, with the sport continuing to grow in leaps and bounds.
The league boasts an 11-team lineup for 2019, with recent inclusions Penola, Casterton Sandford and Mundulla joining the fold.
That will now see five games played every Sunday, with a bye to one team each week, while quarter lengths have also been extended to 15 minutes, opposed to the 12-minute terms last year.
South East football operations coordinator Michael Mourbey said everyone is raring to go and looks forward to the season ahead.
“I think all the girls are really keen to get going,” he said.
“A lot of the clubs have been training since back in October, so we are really looking forward to starting the season.”
He said it has been good to see the competition grow and continue to be well supported across the region.
“I think the induction of the three new clubs that are sort of away from the Mount Gambier area adds a bit more interest into it and just continues the evolution of the game,” Mourbey said.
“It makes for a genuine Limestone Coast competition because we have clubs from north to south.
“I think it also shows teams from different areas can all play in the same competition and compete and get on well.”
Everything is set for another successful season and Mourbey expects the competition to go up another level, as players improve skills and teams build stronger bonds.
“It is like anything, the more you play the more your skills become better,” he said.
“I went and watched a trial game on Friday night last week.
“I think we will see another step up this year and it will be a continuing improvement over the next few years.”
In addition to the extra game each week and longer quarters, two split rounds will also be held later in the season.
“We are going to try a few different little things,” Mourbey said.
“There will be a couple of split rounds towards the end of the season, where there will be three matches at one venue and two at another.
“Little innovations like that we look at to try and evolve and settle the competition for years to come.”
Mourbey said a junior competition is also in the works, with the goal to provide a feeder into the senior contest.
“We are very seriously planning on trying to introduce a junior girls competition,” he said.
“It is very high on our agenda to get that up and running towards the end of the men’s season.
“We will try to have it all in place towards the end of the year.”
Kybybolite enters the season as reigning premier and Mourbey said it should be around the mark again, while runner-up Millicent is also expected to be competitive.
“South has been strong for the last few years also and Mundulla coming into the competition have actually got quite a lot of depth and some good players,” he said.
“There is a bit of unknown with Casterton too because they have quite a strong area over there to select from.
“I think they will all be up around the mark.”
This weekend’s games will be hosted by Mundulla, with North Gambier and South Gambier kicking off the season at 10.30am.
Casterton will square up against Kybybolite in a tough opening round draw at 11.45am, while East Gambier and Glencoe lock horns at 1pm.
At 2.15pm Kalangadoo and West Gambier-Port MacDonnell do battle, before the hosts face the Saints at 3.30pm to see out the day, while Penola has the bye.
“We are looking forward to getting the season under way this week and hoping for a crowd at Mundulla and some good support,” Mourbey said.
