Despite currently sporting a perfect record and a flag to show for last season, one of Goulburn Valley’s most successful footy factions finds itself in a predicament.
Shepparton Swans’ Youth Girls squad is short on numbers and is sounding the klaxons for players.
The cry comes due to a myriad of reasons with incoming coach Leigh Egan encountering a lack of depth in pre-season, losing older players due to age cut offs and other circumstances leaving the Swans short in their four opening games of the season.
It’s not an obvious problem looking from the outside in, with Egan’s girls winning all four.
However, attaining greater squad depth and exposing more youth to the game within a winning culture is what the club is seeking nonetheless.
“You really don’t know who you’re going to have until training starts; we were short for the first few games,” Egan said.
“A lot of the girls who were playing last year become too old to play, some never came back and those sort of things.
“We’ve got a good list as far as quality is concerned; we’ve got nearly five (Murray) Bushrangers playing with Swans, but we’re just trying to get some new girls in to AFLW to have a bit of a run around and just experience it.
“It’s just a top up ― the problem is, it’s only a 16-a-side comp, but you still have to have back-up for injuries, people who can’t turn up, and the Murray Bushrangers take players all the time which hurts us.”
Egan noted a common deterrent for parents of daughters weighing up football as a sport is the contact aspect.
To that, he has the perfect retort.
“From a parents’ point of view with girls, they cringe when they think ‘contact sport’,” he said.
“My daughter Grace plays for Richmond, so I always say to parents ‘look at Grace, she’s one of the toughest inside midfielders in the competition who really enjoys her footy, and that’s what you can achieve’.
“There’s injuries in every sport and that can be a concern for parents and their daughters.
“I just give them Grace as a reference and even my daughter Holly who plays for the Swans, they’re girly girls who like to put on the makeup and the polish and they also love to get out and have a kick.
“It’s probably one of the best junior programs getting around at the Swans, it’s just a hive of activity every training night.”
Egan advised anyone who may be interested in getting involved in youth girls football at the Swans to contact the club’s social media.
Touching on the weekend’s Youth Girls results, the Swans made it four on the bounce by beating rival Shepparton United 4.9 (33) to 1.6 (12), while Echuca United overcame Nathalia by 60 points.
In the Senior Women, Abby Favaro’s five-goal bag guided the Purples to a 75-point win over Nagambie and Shepparton United ground out a 2.5 (17) to 0.6 (6) victory over Tatura.