Sitting second on the Mirvac Division 3 Women’s ladder, Banyule women’s football coach Dan Sheean is thrilled with his side’s progress in its inaugural season.
The Bears have been ultra-impressive so far in season 2021 and are well poised to take a double chance into the finals if their current form continues.
Speaking to NFNL.org.au following their 103-point victory against Reservoir, coach Dan Sheean says the team has exceeded his expectations.
“Virtually half our team has never actually played football before and the other half have played three or four seasons of juniors,” Sheean said.
“There are four girls that have played seniors before, but we’re certainly doing a lot better than I thought we would.”
Drew Barnes and Samantha Temple had previously played senior football before and have been key contributors in Banyule’s debut season after joining the club from Diamond Creek Women’s and St Mary’s respectively.
However, Sheean has been equally impressed with the team’s less experienced players.
“Kaila Walsham’s really tough and hard. It’s her first full season,” Sheean said.
“Keely Welsh in ruck. She played a couple of years in juniors. She gives us a lot of strength in ruck.
“Emily Temple, Sam’s sister, is starting to run through the middle a lot and play her role.
“We get a lot from our wings in Maggie O’Reilly and Melanie Wines, both of whom have never played football before.”
Sheean’s also been impressed with Rebekah Di Paola, who kicked a career-best eight goals in the weekend’s win over Reservoir, to take her season’s tally to 23.
“She makes a huge difference in terms of strengthening us up,” Sheean said.
“Bec missed the one game this year, which was against Mernda, which we lost.”
Aside from Di Paola’s big haul on the weekend, Sheean was impressed with the spread of goal kickers in an even team performance.
“Erin (Bullock) and Chloe (Sheean) have never played football before this season, and they kick two each,” he said.
“But the majority of the goal kickers were girls who’ve never played footy before. From that point of view, it’s really good,” he said.
In his first year as coach of the team, Sheean said one of the major tasks in his role was to develop a good culture, to ensure all players enjoyed their time at the football club.
“That’s what we’ve been driving with the girls all the time,” Sheean said.
“They’ve got the opportunity to drive the culture for the team for the foreseeable future, which the girls have really taken on board.”
The final month of the home and away season presents some strong challenges for Banyule, who face ladder-leader Fitzroy Stars, third-placed Mernda and fifth-placed Laurimar, who they meet twice.
Sheean believes that the games against the Fitzroy Stars will be a great encounter.
“We played Fitzroy first up and they were pretty disappointed that they didn’t beat us when they expected to,” he said.
“They’ll come out firing I’m sure and that’s certainly going to be a tough match.
“Same with Mernda. They’re the side in this division that has beaten us so that’ll be a nice, tough and hard game,” he said.
Sheean added that the playing group enjoyed returning to the field last week following the three-week hiatus during lockdown.
“In some regards they were excited, but I’d say they’re more nervous than excited after a couple of weeks.
“But it was good to get the cobwebs out.”
