NTFA women out for glory as coaches announced for 2024 state carnival

The aim is clear for returning senior coach of the NTFA women's representative team, Ash Smith, as he stood next to under-20 coach Hayley Whyte ahead of the 2024 state carnival.

Following this year's tournament in which the Northern composite team won their first-ever match and were potentially seconds away from winning both, Smith is looking to not only consolidate, but improve.

"We're going to lose a couple of girls that I know have the ambition for VFLW, but there's also a good crop of young girls coming through," Smith said.

"I was reasonably happy with last year's performance. We were very close to winning two and (against South) the girls know that we probably didn't play our best football that day.

"Then to come out the following week and show how we could play a really good brand of football to beat the North-West was incredibly rewarding."

This year's event marked Smith's first as coach of the team, with plenty of lessons learned out of the experience.

"I've probably got a better grip on the whole squad to be honest, especially after I'd been watching a lot of games, getting around all the grounds last season and watching a lot of the girls," he said.

"So right from the first training run, I'll have a good grip on the squad, how the girls operate and how they play."

While it's a chance for improvement for Smith, it's an opportunity for exposure for Whyte, who has her eyes set on an off-field role in footy once her playing days are over.

"I'm at the point of my football playing career where I'm thinking 'what's next for me with football?' and I don't think I could just step away and not have anything to do with it," she said.

Having played more than 150 senior games with Launceston, Whyte said it was pleasing to see the league promote pathways to a higher level in the sport.

"The under-20s is good for the girls that don't make the (Tasmania) Devils' squad, it's another opportunity for them to really develop and push to make that next step for them," she said.

"It's good to see that the NTFA are pushing for a pathway as well creating several pathways for girls that don't or that are too old to make that Devils side."

With both coaches eager to work with each other as they build what they hope are Tasmania's best regional squads, Whyte explained why the carnival has been so popular among players.

"You're not playing the same girls that you play every week, you actually get to play with the girls that you're playing against and you're against the best players from the South and the North-West Coast and you want to be playing against the best players you can be," she said.

Next year's women's all-stars series is expected to occur at a similar time to this year's, which was held over two weeks in June.