Giants Senior Women pushing to enhance competition

The champions in 2019 and 2020. It was another really successful season for the Bathurst Giants women's side, and unbeaten minor premiership at the conclusion of the abandoned season

 

 

It’s been a huge couple of years for women’s Australian Rules Football in the Central West. With four teams playing regularly in the Central West Senior Women’s competition, it’s given women across the region another opportunity to play competitive sport. But no team has enjoyed more success on and off the paddock in recent years than the Bathurst Giants.

Created in 2018, the Giants’ senior women’s team has gone from strength to strength building a foundation and culture that has been the envy of the competition. The side has seen huge growth in player participation amongst women and according to Giants President Darryl Macauley, senior women have accounted for the majority of the growth for the club.

“Having a senior women’s side has pretty much accounted for the majority of our growth,” he said.

“From not having a side initially to getting our first side back in 2018. That brings 30 plus players to the game that we didn’t ordinarily have.

Having strong player numbers has helped the club immensely, with the side enjoying unrivalled success on the field in recent years. That success has also made it easier for the side to recruit and retain players.

READ: Bathurst Bushrangers Youth Girls go undefeated in 2021

“Having a strong team helps to draw players to the club,” Giants coach Liz Kennedy said.

“I think across the board the Giants have been very lucky with who we have recruited. They each have someone they want to play with and play for.”

“The Bathurst Bushrangers were the team to beat in the first couple of years that the competition started and for whatever reason they haven’t been as strong recently. But for us, we have great numbers that get to training, the girls want to play the game and the girls enjoy being around us coaches. I think the comradely between the girls is amazing.

Whilst the abandonment of the season doesn’t provide the result the Giants were striving for, the side will go into 2022 as clear favourites. The side capped off an outstanding 2019-20 where they lost only one match, to then go unbeaten on their way to the 2021 Minor Premiership. They boasted the strongest attack in the competition, scoring a staggering 343 points more than the next best, and conceded the fewest, at least 256-points less than the rest.

Hailee Provest, Olivia Johnston, Elise Gullifer and Zoe Peters were standouts in attack, all booting at least 10 majors. For Hailee, her season was rewarded with a competition leading goalkicker award. The side on top also had 11 players in the Women’s Representative side that went to Nowra in June. Whilst the season abandonment meant that they were unable to join the Bushrangers as sides to have won three consecutive women’s premierships, there is an air of confidence at the club, that suggests they’ll be thereabouts in 2022.

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The Giants have made it a focus to maximize the experience the players can get out of the sport. Whether that is providing players with quality coaches or trying to provide players with opportunities to improve their skills. Macauley believes that by giving the players a good experience, it can help the club keep their players.

“Retention of our players is our number one goal. The senior women have won the last two straight and went undefeated this year. So, we want to mainly work around player retention and maximizing the player experience,” he said.

The players themselves also can’t be forgotten, and according to coach Liz Kennedy, the team is full of leaders.

“Our captain Katie Kennedy has been a key leader. She has been around footy her whole life and has a very competitive spirit. Katie previously played for the Bushrangers but moved to the Giants a year after they formed. She asked a couple of her friends to come play and it grew from there,” she said.

“There is also Tamara Thompson and Hailee Provest and along with the whole team are great leaders. They all lead themselves. We were also very lucky to get Sarah Day who comes from a strong football family in Cowra. In the last part of the season, we got Carla Hill who comes from up in the Newcastle region. ”

READ: Orange Tigers go from strength to strength as all junior sides make finals

“We also had a few new girls this season with Saige Davies and Kaylee Barnes, who were previously youth girls. We also brought in Molly McCrossin and Rosie Snare. They all love playing together, they like being together and they are a dream to coach.”

Despite its success, the club isn’t satisfied and is looking for ways to improve the standard league wide. Macauley is pushing to do just that.

“The overall aim for the Senior Women and Youth Girls is to try and improve the level overall in the competition. That’s what we try and do to the best of our ability within our club,” he said.

“I believe there needs to be more training opportunities and a bit more of a development path. I know they initiated some of those programs with the Western Region Academy of Sport in recent times and I guess we are yet to see that flow through to the seniors.”

“Creating those opportunities and playing at a higher level would be beneficial. So, fostering those rep games for the better players in the league to go and play with better players in other leagues. I think those sorts of programs need to be expanded upon, so they go away for those weekends and play at a higher level, they train at that higher level and they bring it back to their clubs.”