A 7-9 record meant Bridgewater finished last season in sixth place, but just a victory behind the fifth-placed Newbridge.
Among the stars in the ’23 campaign were goal defence Kirsten Galea, who earned the Pam Collins Memorial Award for best and fairest; Olivia Collicoat, goal shooter Danielle Flood, and Ashlee Bowen.
Co-coaches of A and B-grade for this season will be Caz Wood and Olivia Collicoat and they have also been able to recruit Kangaroo Flat’s Carly Van Den Heuvel to slip into the red and white and help transform the also-rans into genuine finalists.
With the gutting of Maiden Gully-YCW’s back-to-back premiership team, the season has been thrown wide open for any team wanting to stand up.
The club will be looking to lift at both ends of the court – the A-grade shot just 673 goals in 2023 while conceding 799, compared to Maiden Gully’s benchmark of 1128 goals for and just 593 against.
Also on Bridgewater’s coaching panel are Georgia Mamouney-Brown, C-grade, and Naomi Millie, C-reserve.
Other coaches are Tamara Hayes, 17-and-under; Dannielle Flood, 15-and-under; Julia Elkingston, 13-and-under; and Bree Wickham, Minis.
The Mean Machine is at home to play Newbridge in round one on April 13.
A night match at Maiden Gully a week later will be followed by clashes with Inglewood, home; Pyramid Hill, away; and Bears Lagoon-Serpentine, home.
