BO'C: What led you to coach at Beechworth this year?

CS: I've been around the club forever. I originally started coaching when we moved into the Tallangatta league and pretty much coached mainly juniors every year. Then I had a break for a couple of years and this year it got to about February and we had no one for the role, so I couldn't just sit back and watch it all go downhill. We had lots of girls from out of town come wanting to play, which was amazing. We picked up some really good players.

BO'C: Are you going again next year?

CS: Probably not, only because we need something different, we need someone new. Someone that brings something different to the club.

BO'C: Looking towards 2020, do you have any key focuses for the off-season?

ALSO IN SPORT:

CS: The conversation has definitely started about needing coaches across all grades, with us having already filled some. As for the senior position, that hasn't been filled yet, but conversations have started with people to see if we can get someone to jump in. In the off-season we're usually pretty good with starting our pre-season around Christmas time just to get people interested, so we'll try and do that again and see where we go from there.

BO'C: Who have been standout players this year?

CS: This year we picked up Rachael Cavallin. She's previously played in Wangaratta and moved to Beechworth with her family. She's an amazing player, but she's also stood up and helped me and the juniors. I had a baby in June, so she helped me out massively. She's been amazing for the club. Our other huge pickup for the season was young defender Eva Cordy who returned to the club. She played a season at Bulldogs and has been a huge asset to the team this year.

BO'C: What are some of positives from this year?

CS: A massive positive is that we had a really great group of girls. Their ability and talent on court is amazing, it's just that every year we have a different group. We've never been able to get a set nine or 10. By the end of the year we're starting to gel, but the team changes again. It would be really great to be able to get just five or six players that can stick it out for a couple of years. If we can have that core group, we can at least get some consistency across the board. I think most of the girls from this year are keen to play again, so hopefully that occurs. We have a couple of girls who like to travel, which good on them, so they should.

Anyone interested in the coaching role can contact the club.