By Mikayla van Loon
It has been a ripper season so far for the Mount Evelyn women’s and girls football teams, heading into finals with a high chance of success.
Despite a loss to Whitehorse on Saturday 5 August, 62-16, the senior women managed to hold onto a top four position, giving them a finals campaign.
“The senior women, unfortunately we’ve had quite a few injuries and we’ve also had a pregnancy as well, which is a great thing but we’re a little bit lighter on the numbers,” senior coach Steve Varley said.
“So we are in the finals at the moment. We knew we were always going to take a bit of a step back going with a bit more of a youth policy this year.”
Bolstering numbers in the seniors has come from 15 players in the under 18s side who have stepped up, sometimes playing two games in a weekend.
“In one game we actually had nine under 18s in our team so for us to be going through that shows the whole program is working and everyone’s getting trained up and they’re all able to fill in and are progressing really well,” Varley said.
The under 18s also made finals, playing in the preliminary final on Sunday 6 August but lost to Vermont 46-12.
The under 16s enter their finals campaign undefeated throughout the home and away season.
With a vision at the club to ensure the women’s and girls teams act as one, Varley said some under 16s players even got the chance to take on a senior game throughout the season.
“We actually played our youngest ever player in either men or women in a senior game. Her name is Harmony Tunufai.
“She came from our 16s, we had three girls who we gave a run around from the 16s and she was one of them. So it’s pretty exciting, the talent that’s coming through.”
In an aim to encourage the players to support each other and be a collective unit, the coaching team and senior women began putting on an evening three years ago, bringing the under 16s, under 18s and seniors together to listen to a guest speaker and have dinner.
“The whole premise was about there being too much of a disconnect between everything, between the seniors and the juniors and we wanted to make that just completely go away,” Varley said.
“So under 18s train with us every single session, every drill the senior captain does, the least experienced under 18 does exactly the same drills every night for the whole year.
“When the under 16s come up, they’ll be those players, those least experienced players. So event’s about welcoming them to the club.”
This year’s guest speaker was PGA golfer Grace Lennon, 31, who came from behind to win The Athena in March.
Early on in her career, Lennon decided touring wasn’t for her stepping away from golf slightly after notching up some impressive amateur titles like the Queen Sirikit Cup in 2023 and being named in the top-20 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.
“She’s obviously had adversity that she’s stepped away from golfing, come back to golf and was able to still find that drive again to be successful,” Varley said.
At The Athena, Varley said she took home the prize winnings of $30,000 and despite not being obligated to share 10 per cent of that with her caddie, Lennon still gave $3000 to her.
“She gave her caddie $3,000 out of her money to help her progress her golf. I think that’s probably the main thing I want our players to take out of it is to step out of their own eyes and look at other people,” he said.
“So they see and be more aware of other people and their situations and their teammates and things like that. If we all want to make everybody else in the team better, then ultimately, we all become better.”
Growing the program, Varley said next year it is likely there will be two under 12, 14 and 16 teams to really boost participation and pathways for players.
“It’s not just about the footy life, every single one of the kids that comes to the club gets exactly the same opportunity.
“Even though we’re one program, every single team has its own personality, their own coaches, and we’re not trying to make it just one way or that everybody has to coach the same way.
“All the coaches have their own personalities, their own coaching styles, but it’s just all part of the bigger picture.”
