After a rough start for the youthful Emmaus St. Leo’s OCFC women’s side, the VAFA have decided to regrade the side to Division 4 for the rest of the 2021 season.
The decision comes after a lamentable 0-5 start to the season for the Animals despite their best efforts, including a round 3 loss by a mere 13 points after kicking 7 behinds in the game.
The largely new and inexperienced side have made impressive strides from week to week, with improvement shown in multiple areas of the ground, however large turnover and a host of players only just beginning their footballing journeys have seen results not match the output.
The move has left Senior Coach Roy Fenton excited for a fresh set of opponents for the rest of the season.
”A new challenge against teams in a similar situation will be the best thing for this side going forward.”
Assistant Coach Geoff Koop shared the enthusiasm for the new division, whilst also praising the resilience of the side.
”They’ve seen some tough games early, and that’s a brutal introduction to league footy. Credit to the girls though they’ve kept their heads up and the effort has been there in every match to change the outcomes and show some promise.”
Koop added, “If we can work on some things on the track, and see the output actually breed some results on the field, then it will be all worth and will be climbing the ladder soon enough.”
A revised draw sees the Animals Women now have a bye this weekend, before travelling to Pitcher Park to face Parkside in their debut year the following week.
”This is a special group, the best we’ve had go through the club on the Women’s side, and Feno and I have the utmost confidence their going to take this new opportunity and absolutely sprint away with it.” said Koop, adding “There’s some good players now, and there’s some players that will become great players, this gives them a better opportunity to get there.”