TYRENDARRA Football Netball Club has locked in its senior top grade coaches across all competitions for the 2024 seasons.

As previously announced in the Portland Observer senior football coach from 2023 Sam Anson has re-signed for the 2024 South West District Football Netball League season while new signings include former premiership coach Kylie Kane who is back on board in the A grade coaching role and Tom Dempsey who is taking on the women’s football top job for the Western Victoria Female Football League.

Kane is no stranger to the top netball role at Tyrendarra having coached A grade for a number of years, including a premiership in 2016, before stepping out of the job at the end of 2017.

“I hadn’t really contemplated coaching again until I was approached by a couple of the A grade players from this year which kind of planted a bit of a seed and that grew and now, I’m really excited to be back in the role,” she said.

“There will be different players and players that I haven’t coached before which I’m really excited about, the game always changes slightly too so it’ll be great to look at it with fresh eyes, a different cohort and work with other styles of play.

“I’ve also changed as a person, so as a coach I’ll come back looking at it from a different perspective as well; the league has evolved and changed too.”

Kane is stepping into the role from 2023 co-coaches Hannah Van Gemst and Rani Kane and will look to push for more success at the club.

“The women that are there at the minute, their enthusiasm and level of commitment and way they go about what they did last year and this year, they’re a really impressive bunch and to be able to work with players and a team like that is such an exciting thing to look forward to,” she said.

“I haven’t been in a coaching role at the club for the last four or five years but I’m really excited to see who turns up.

“Almost all of the girls are returning from 2023 and we’ve also got some players coming back who weren’t there last year and you add that to the existing group it makes for such an exciting 2024.”

Kane said preseason plans will be put in place ahead of the Christmas break with plans to get started in the New Year.

“It’s been so nice to be back involved with the club even in this short term so far, the committee have been exceptionally supportive,” she said.

“It feels like an exciting time for Tyrendarra netball and Tyrendarra as a whole and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

Dempsey on board for WVFFL season

Tom Dempsey has taken on the women’s senior football coaching role for the 2024 Western Victoria Female Football League season and is keen to push the development of the team and build a future for women’s football in the region.

Dempsey was involved with the reserves football coaching for the 2023 season and will take his experience into the new job.

Tyrendarra joined the league just two years ago with Dempsey taking on the role from previous coach Glenn Kane.

With two daughters of his own who have started playing football, he said it was the perfect opportunity to develop pathways for them.

“Having two daughters who enjoy their football was part of it and just watching the girls football develop I want to be a part of that,” he said.

“I also want to be a role model for the girls to promote them to play, I’ve been at Tyrendarra for a while now so when the opportunity presented itself, I was very keen.”

Dempsey has had plenty of playing and coaching experience, starting his football journey in the Goulburn Valley, before playing in Melbourne, at Heywood and then coaching at Stawell before landing at Tyrendarra.

While he will bring plenty of experience to the role, he said he will be led by the team and how they want to tackle the season ahead.

“First thing is sitting down with the leadership group and see how they want to approach the season, it’s still a fairly new league in the grand scheme of things so it’s about seeing what the women want.

“It’s about seeing where we are at the minute too and seeing where we need to get to, to be challenging the teams that were in the grand final last year.

“It all depends on what they want to get out of it, but the crux will be some fitness work, ball work, keep building on the fundamentals and make sure everyone is enjoying it.”

Moving forward Dempsey said preseason plans will form after catching up with the playing group.

“I’m just very excited for the opportunity and look forward to getting into it,” he said.

“It’s become a really exciting period for women’s football in general, so we just want to get more people involved and get excited about the year.”