PROFILE
“Fierce and competitive” is how new Woorinen A grade coach Tayla Bennett described her team’s style of play – with the Tigers intent on returning themselves to the top of the Central Murray ladder in 2023.
After scraping into the top five last year, the young Tigers were bundled out by a rampaging Lake Boga in the Elimination Final.
But while just making the finals last season with a budding, but improving, Woorinen outfit could have been considered an achievement, Bennett will be looking for more from her team when they take to the court against the Cohuna Kangas on Good Friday.
“We just want to be fierce and competitive,” she said. “I think they’re our two words heading into this season – leave it all out there each week and that should hopefully enable us to be thereabouts come the end of the game and the end of the season,” Bennett said.
She returns to coach the club where she won two premierships (2016 and 2019) as a player after a stint with Quambatook in the Golden Rivers. Bennett won’t be the only familiar face to arrive at Tigerland this season, with Woorinen Youth Girls footballer and star netballer Carlee Hazlett joining the Tigers from Tooleybuc-Manangatang.
With both Hazlett and Bennett considered to be among the better goalies in the league, their pairing will give Woorinen an immediate boost in their attacking third, as well as creating healthy competition for spots with incumbent goalies Zoe Steicke and Emily Siely. Also joining Woorinen this season will be Stevie-Jo Maher, who is expected to play through the mid-court and could well be a ready-made replacement for former coach Olivia Jones, who departed for Kerang in the off-season.
“We’ve had a bit of player movement over the off-season, which is good,” Bennett said.
“The young girls played last year and got an opportunity to have a run, which is great for the future of the club to rebuild and develop the next generation – but the recruits will give us a new look and bring a new perspective to our team for this season.”
“Bringing in new players will also help with our depth and add a lot more versatility to our side than what we had previously.”
While the Tigers will have a new look about them in their attacking half of the court, their defensive end should look relatively similar, with club legend Tessa Demaria returning alongside young goal keeper Emily Free. Also returning in 2023 to run through the centre third will be Jaimee Beasy, with both Ava Crow and Eva Bolton set to fight it out for the remaining mid-court spots – along Maher and Siely, who could also move into the WA and WD bibs.
While a new coach and new players are likely to see the Tigers improve on last season, Bennett knows if her team really wants to achieve something great, then it will come down to how hard they’re prepared to work.
“I think as a team we’ll be versatile, but we’re also looking to build something new and work towards it being a sustainable build,” Bennett said.
“I’m really looking for the girls to put in the effort and the commitment like has been the case in previous years and just get to know each other on and off the court and rebuild the culture and what we had prior to those premiership years.”
FROM THE COACH
“We’ve got some clear goals that we want to achieve as a club and we also want to develop our junior netballers, because we have some very good Under 18 players as well – but of course in terms of on court performance, finals are the aim.”
KEY PLAYER
Tessa Demaria
Demaria is a dual premiership Tiger and former Central Murray league Best & Fairest and is till very much at the top of her game. Highly skilled with lightning-fast hands, Demaria is still the most important player wearing the yellow and black.
INs & OUTs
INs
Tayla Bennett (Quambatook)
Carlee Hazlett (Tooleybuc-Manangatang)
Sharni O’Connor (Quambatook)
Stevie-Jo Maher
Jana Beasy
OUTs
Olivia Jones (Kerang)
