THE Western Victoria Female Football League is back in action for the 2024 season with games scheduled throughout the weekend.

Local women’s side Tyrendarra will play in its first game for the season on Sunday as they take on reigning  premiers, Hamilton Kangaroos, at Tyrendarra.

With the new season has bought a lot of changes for the Tyrendarra women’s side who will enter its third year in the competition.

At the helm is new senior coach Tim Hiscock, who will be leading a new group of players into the season.

“We’re keen to get going and get into it,” he said.

“From our last finals game last year, we’ve probably lost about eight players, including Nicola Clark and our leading goalkicker (Ieesha Kelly-O’Brien).

“But we’ve managed to pick up a few players as well who will be handy; we’ve got Jess Cameron who’s keen to play and Shakira Stuchbery as well. Heidi Jones is also playing, she’s out this Sunday but hopefully we’ll have her during the season.

“Paije Rose-Maher is another one who played junior football at Portland and has been playing in Geelong the past few years, she’ll be really handy.

“We also had a practice match the other night and some of Portland’s Under-18 girls came and played in that and hopefully they’ll be keen for a few games when they’re not playing, we really want to connect and have a pathway for those juniors.”

With the mix of players including those who have played for a few years and some completely new to the game, Hiscock said there has been different focuses throughout preseason.

“We’ve had a focus on the fundamentals at training and a bit of fitness,” he said.

“We want to get the ball moving and allow players to get a touch on it and push to be a bit more competitive.

“It’s a tough balance between trying to progress to set ups but then also getting players working on those basic skills.

“A lot of players play for the social side but also because it’s a competitive sport so we want to make sure we can bring that intensity and still enjoy it.”

This year the senior women’s competition has six teams including Tyrendarra, Hamilton, Horsham, Warrnambool, South Warrnambool and new team Cavendish.

Cavendish played its inaugural senior women’s game against South Warrnambool at Friendly Societies Park last night, with the Under-18 game between the two clubs played prior to the senior contest.

The senior women’s clash between Tyrendarra and Hamilton will begin at 12.30pm.