Launceston women’s football team is set to kick off its 2017 TSLW season against powerhouse Clarence at Windsor Park on Saturday.
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The TSLW is the eltie level of women’s competition featuring five clubs in Launceston, Clarence, Glenorchy, Burnie and Tigers.
The Blues side this season is being coached by Alex Gibbins for the second year with assistants Brett Sweeney and former player Angela Dickson.
“We finished fourth last year and got knocked out by Glenorchy in the elimination final,” Gibbins said.
“We’ve improved a lot since last season – two senior teams in Launceston and Evandale have merged from last season and we’ve become the Northern representative team in the TSLW and if any girls are aspiring to be at the top level of women’s footy then the better players come to Launceston.
“We’ve recruited from Evandale and we’ve picked up a lot of new players through AFLW being on TV – a lot more people are playing.”
Gibbins said the increase in women’s football participation had been phenomenal with 50 girls trying out for the Launceston team this season with only 28 able to picked in the squad.
“I think that’s our biggest improvement this year will come from us being a year older this year because we were very young last season and we go deep in our squad with 28 footballers,” he said.
“Kate Child will captain the team with Daria Bannister and Hayley Whyte part of the leadership group along with Courtney Webb.”
Gibbins said he expected the team to perform better than last season’s fourth place.
“External expectations are high on us and we were a long way fourth last year and Glenorchy smashed us in the elimination final because it was girls playing against women and with all due respect to Glenorchy they were a long way off Burnie and Clarence.
“How far we have bridged that gap we will find out – a lot of people on the outside are saying a fair bit but we will see.”
Burnie was the 2016 TSLW premier but have lost some players to the AFLW competition and Gibbins expected Clarence to be the one to beat in 2017 with Glenorchy also likely to be strong.
“Physically as well as football smarts will be our biggest areas of improvement and players to watch for us will be midfielder-forward Daria Bannister who has attracted AFLW interest, key position player Maggie Cuthbertson and midfielder Courtney Webb with Naomi Celebre a little pocket rocket.”