West Preston-Lakeside has its sights set on going one win better in 2018 after finishing runner-up in the inaugural season of the NFNL’s Division 2 women’s competition.
The Roosters are again drawn in Division 2 of the ANZ NFNL Women’s and will face Darebin, La Trobe University, Laurimar, Montmorency, South Morang and VU Western Spurs in the race for the premiership cup.
After falling 19 points short of VU Western Spurs in last year’s grand final, Roosters coach Brett Pollard is determined by the prospect of having another tilt at the premiership in 2018.
“We’re really excited about the season, especially after the season we had last year. Hopefully we can go one win better,” Pollard told NFNL.org.au.
“The team isn’t using the grand final loss specifically to drive them because they are already motivated to play football. They are ready to play.
“We were happy to win one game last year with all the first-year players we had, let alone make it to the grand final.
“We still can’t believe we made it that far, but we must have done something right.”
Some of the club’s top-end talent has been selected to play in the VFLW for the 2018 season – including competition best and fairest Natarsha Bamblett, who joined the Richmond Football Club.
But Pollard is confident the new players in the line-up will be able to fill the void and play their roles for the team.
“A couple of girls left to play in the VFLW, so that’s going to make it a bit harder,” he said.
“But that’s our job – to help the girls play their best and if they make it to the VFLW we’ve done something right.
“We didn’t do much on the recruiting side – we thought we had a good list, but we had some girls who can play footy come to us and that’s been great.
“The girls are keen and willing to learn and are getting better. Things are looking good.”
West Preston-Lakeside will kick off their 2018 campaign on Sunday April 8 at J.E. Moore Park against Montmorency.
