VU Western Spurs continue to re-write the history books with their phenomenal start to the 2019 season.
The Spurs have three sides competing across the NFNL’s women’s football competitions and all are achieving great success this campaign.
The Division 1 and Division 2 sides currently undefeated atop their respective ladders, while the Division 3 side sits second behind Greensborough.
In particular, the past two weeks have seen major successes for all three VU Western Spurs sides.
Two weeks ago all three teams kept the opposition scoreless in wins at Henry Turner Reserve. All three were victorious again at the weekend, with a combined score of 44.29 (293) to 1.1 (7).
Division 1 coach Christina Polatajko said she couldn’t be happier with the club’s performance on and off the field.
It is the first time in the Spurs’ history that all three oppositions have been scoreless, according to Polatajko who had a stint playing for the Spurs for 11 years prior to coaching.
“It’s something we didn’t think about until the next day,” she said.
“[It was] obviously a great moment, but in saying that, we don’t want to get carried away and we want to focus on the next round to become even better.”
Having won all eight games in 2019, Polatajko’s Division 1 side currently sits three wins clear atop the ANZ Women’s Division 1 table with a whopping percentage of 836.
Polatajko believes two major contributions to the success of the Division 1 side are the connection and commitment demonstrated by the team, who follow the motto “no connections, no success”.
“From the word go, the girls have demonstrated commitment and professionalism towards one another, which I believe has contributed to our success thus far,” Polatajko said.
“Every week we have a full squad at training and these girls are wanting to learn, not only to be successful at the Spurs, but to build their opportunities potentially at VFLW and AFLW levels.
“We believe we have a very highly skilled group, however if these girls don’t get along and play well together, the success won’t come.
“The connection between the group, the coaches and club is contagious.”
The leadership team of the Division 1 Spurs has also been an important part of this early success.
“Our co-captains in Tara Morgan and Jess Francke are outstanding role models on and off the field,” Polatajko said.
“Not only do they perform on game day, but they raise the bar to perform on training nights and our girls look up to them and push themselves to learn from our leaders.”
Even with the major successes of the past two rounds, Polatajko is focusing on improvement for the future of the team.
“Obviously we want the ultimate success,” she said.
“We are still a long way on displaying our best footy.
“It’s only early days in the season but every week we are becoming stronger.”
But scoreboard success isn’t the only goal for Polatajko this season.
“My goal is simple and that is being successful, whether that’s winning games or seeing my girls move into high level[s] with their footy,” she said.
“The most important thing is that the girls are enjoying playing footy and enjoy being around at the Spurs.
“We have so many girls playing footy for the first time and every week we fill three full sides in all three divisions.
“We are very proud in having three full teams [and] our Head of Football, Caroline Kilmartin and the executive are leading the troops well.”
The Division 1 side will look to continue their undefeated campaign this Sunday when they travel to Plenty Park Oval to take on Diamond Creek Women’s.
