Thurgoona has become the fifth team accepted into the rapidly-expanding AFL North East Border (NEB) Youth Girls competition.
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The Tallangatta League outfit joins Lavington, Wodonga Raiders, Murray Felines (Corowa, Wahgunyah and Rutherglen) and Alpine Lions (Whorouly and Alpine Valleys) for the 2017 season.
Thurgoona veteran Tim Madden has been appointed as the club’s Youth Girls coach and is excited for what lies in store.
“We’ve got a lot of netball numbers, so this is a great opportunity to help girls get involved with footy,” Madden said.
“It will give them a pathway into the local rep footy and with the women’s footy kicking off, there will hopefully be more girls from our region playing AFL in years to come.
“Obviously there is Lavington in town, but other than that a lot of the girls will come from the Hume region and surrounds.
“There will be a few netballers and there are some pretty handy athletes that will pick up footy pretty quickly and have kicked with brothers and played school footy, who will be keen to give something else a go.”
The start of the season is yet to be confirmed, but is looking likely to be a 12 to 14 game competition.
“Last year they played eight games, so it will mean a little more commitment from the girls, but also gives us more time to develop,” Madden said.
He added the eventual goal is to have Thurgoona Youth Girls home games played alongside the rest of the club’s matches.
“I know Raiders did it last year against Lavington under lights after one of the Raiders home games and it worked really well,” Madden said.
“It’s something the club will look at to play them under lights or do it early in the year during a rival game against a Mitta or Kiewa because we get big crowds to those games.”
Gabrielle Goldsworthy will be in the contention to play for Thurgoona in 2017 after impressing with only limited football experience.
The 18-year-old represented her school every year and was talent-identified to play in the Bushranger Cup at end of last season, before making the Murray Bushrangers Youth Girls training squad for the North East.
The former Scots student is unsure how many games she will be available for, but plans to train with the Southern Riverina academy team in Wagga and return during university breaks.
“It’s really great for the younger girls to have a role model and see a girl in that position, not just the male players,” Goldsworthy said.
“It’s good to be able to visualise the girls playing and not having to stop when they’re 14.
“I’ve always played netball, but I just loved playing footy at school and having a kick at lunchtime.
“It’s good to finally have the opportunity to play.”
Thurgoona already has more than 20 players interested and will host its first official traning session on February 14.