CAVENDISH Football Netball Club has received confirmation from the Western Victoria Female Football League (WVFFL) Advisory Board, that its application to field a team in the WVFFL Under-18 Girls competition for 2023 has been approved.

Former Cavendish senior coach, Dion Brook, will be looking after the side with his daughter Matilda being among the playing group.

Outgoing senior premiership winning coach, Clinton Thomas, has been a driving force behind the application and the formation of the team, and he is excited for the opportunity this presents for the growing number of female footballers within the Cavendish area.

“My daughter, Milly, came to me asking about how her and her friends could remain in football with the Cavendish club once they were too old to play in the juniors, and from there the girls banded together to drive the formation of the team,” Thomas said.

The club recognised the need to provide a pathway for its female players and Thomas and other people from within have made it a reality.

“The girls said to us that if they couldn’t play for Cavendish then they wouldn’t play anywhere else, which would have seen them lost to the sport, so the club backed their enthusiasm and put in the hard yards off the field to make it a reality.”

Predominantly the players are all locals within the Cavendish area who have come through the junior football age groups with the club.

The players will vary in ages from 14 through to 17 with most of the bottom-aged group being more experienced than their older counterparts after coming through the Under-14 age group in the last few years.

“We have 21 players committed already, and we had to submit our player list to the Advisory Board to show that we weren’t taking players from the Hamilton Kangaroos before our application was approved,” Thomas said.

“Interested players are more than welcome, and we have space for another four or five to fill the squad.”

The club has already locked in Brook to coach the side, who said after assisting with the junior side last season, coaching the female team and his daughter, Matilda, was a new challenge he was very keen about.

“It’s a very exciting new chapter for the club, to get a girls team (in the WVFFL) shows the excitement around the club and the growth that it’s going through … the plan is to have some good female mentors around this group as well,” Brook said.

“I’d been talking with Bob and Clinton (Thomas) during the year about the potential of a women’s team coming up … I indicated that I’d be happy to help out in whatever role that may be, and it went from there really.”

While the competition is Under-18, many of the girls that will pull on the Bloods jumper will be aged 14 and 15 giving the side lots of young talent that it can grow and nurture.

Brook said the focus was development and participation, adding that all new players are welcome to the club whether they wanted to be involved from an on or off-field perspective.

“The first goal will be making sure the girls enjoy the participation and learn some fundamental skills of football, we’re going to have a variety of skills,” he said.

“We will have some girls that are part of the Rebels squad and some girls that have never played football before, it will be ensuring everyone is building on their own skill base.

“It’s another opportunity for the girls to be involved in a team sport … it’ll be about giving them a safe environment to be themselves and make new friends.”

Matilda Brook is just 14 years old, but that won’t stop her from getting out on the field in the Cavendish jumper when the season starts.

The youngster said she was looking forward to the team environment and couldn’t wait to run out on the football field.

“It was fun playing alongside the boys (last season in the Under-14s) and I’m excited (for the season),” Matilda said.

“It’ll be fun to play with my friends, I want to get better at my kicking (this season).”

There will be a couple of sessions before Christmas where the squad will get to meet their coach and all of their teammates.

The club said it would look at the possibility of having a senior women’s squad over the next 12 to 18 months but for the time being, the focus was on the Under-18 girls and their development.

Brook said that if there were any girls wanting to be part of a team, who may not necessarily want to be playing the game, there would be plenty of roles around the club.

“If anyone wants to be part of it, they are more than welcome to come along and get involved,” he said.