Sport
Shepparton United is fighting fit for Goulburn Murray Women’s and Girls League season opener
It’s an almost quiet evening at Kialla Park Recreation Reserve.
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The sun is just beginning to swing through its pendulous arc, the blanket of twilight slowly wraps over the oval and, boy, the setting is serene.
So, why is it ‘‘almost’’ quiet?
On the near corner of the reserve is a 30-strong pack of Shepparton United female footballers spilling around the goalsquare, laughing and joking before a routine training session.
Except it’s not routine at all, really.
The Demons are gearing up for round one of the Goulburn Murray Women’s and Girls League — formerly known as the Northern Country Women’s League — on Sunday, and up first is reigning premier Echuca on its home deck.
Are they a chance?
Can United knock over the top dog?
Coach Grant Searle, who sticks out like a sore thumb among the swathe of girls with his thick and bristled moustache, takes a moment to ponder and think.
“Who would know?” he said.
“(We’re) a little bit confident, but not overly; Echuca are an unbelievable side and have been for quite some time in the women’s.
“I was hoping to be well-prepared; we still need some more players, but I’m also aware that many of the women’s teams in the league are also in the same boat.
“We could do with some more players, but coming into this weekend, we’re a little confident.”
Peering at the pack of Demon-clad players, numbers appear to be up and confidence oozes from tip to toe.
Though the vast majority of them are only in the early walks of their football journey, the unified strut and swagger around the oval would have most thinking United’s core is seasoned 300-gamers.
On return from their lap of the track, one of the girls pings a low kick off the right foot, drilling the Sherrin in the direction of a crumpled bag of balls.
Bullseye.
Anyone with half a brain could tell these players have talent and application, too — Shepparton United’s women’s and girls’ sides have been training since October.
But at 2.30pm on Sunday, when the first bounce hits the turf of Victoria Park, up flips a switch that has remained off since July: game mode.
The Demons notched their best league finish in 2023, rounding out the home and away season in second before bowing out in the semi-final against eventual runner-up Nathalia.
According to Searle, last season’s lessons could be summed up in two words.
“Self-belief,” he said.
“The girls just believed that they had the ability to do it, especially seeing as the team were relatively new to the sport.
“They just had a lot of self-belief that they could get there and they deserved to be there.”
United will run the gauntlet against Echuca with a fairly reshaped complexion to the last time the sides met.
Searle didn’t dance around the fact there have been omissions, but as for additions?
Well, they’re about as blockbuster as they come.
Due to Shepparton Swans not fielding a women’s side, genuine guns in Holly Egan and Payten Johnston have flown the coop from Princess Park to the Demons to continue their football in the senior fray.
“We’ve picked up some girls who’ve come up into the women’s now who also are in the Bushrangers side, so I’m looking forward to watching them play,” Searle said.
“We’ve got Holly Egan and Payten Johnston and I think we’ve got about six or seven youth girls in the Bushies as well.
“Unfortunately Swans haven’t got a women’s side and they (Egan and Johnston) wanted to continue their football.”
Egan is a Victoria Country representative, Murray Bushrangers vice-captain and one of the state’s fancied draft prospects, while Johnston is progressing to become one of the Bushies’ most trusted starlets.
While Egan and Johnston are undoubtedly skilled in their own right, the duo will have the chance to learn from a doyenne of the local game in United skipper Melissa Foster.
Searle hinted Foster is primed for another sizzling season in the navy and pink.
“Our captain is an absolute gem, Melissa Foster,” he said.
“I think she is going to have another ripping year.”
The acid test for United — Echuca — is only days away and Foster will seek to lead the Demons to a win which would send a menacing shot across the league’s bows.
Those bows have grown wider, too.
Rumbalara, Mansfield and Barooga have joined the conversation as new contenders in the senior women’s league, while the latter will also field an outfit in the girls’ division.
The added degree of competition is pleasing to see from an outside perspective and, though, Searle isn’t sugar-coating it, it’s hard to deny a near-doubling of the team pool is bad news in any sense.
“It’s growing — slowly,” he said, referencing the league’s state.
“Unfortunately COVID put paid to that for quite some time, but we’re heading in the right direction; slowly but surely I think we’ll get there.”
The 2024 season kicks off on Friday night as Nagambie hosts Nathalia, while the Sunday slate has Tatura head to Barooga and Rumbarala hits the road to the high country, meeting Mansfield.
United’s trip to Echuca rounds out the opening weekend action, where maybe — just maybe — the Demons can silence Victoria Park.
Or at the very least, make it ‘‘almost’’ quiet.
Sports Journalist