Tigers make big push for women’s squad

MEMBERS of Bannockburn FNC are putting the callout for players as they build their senior women’s football team.

Having started a women’s side about three years ago, female football coordinator Jodie Bukofsan said the club has had a challenging issue every season.

“We always seem to go really good with numbers before everything drops off again,” she said. “We want to do a big burst to get things up and running.

“It often comes down to our players being mums and putting their kids, jobs, partners first and themselves last.

“We’re a few players short so we need to get things going to make it happen for our seniors’ team. We’ve had 25 players turn up inconsistently.

“The season starts on the 23rd of April so we need that consistency to help field our team.”

The club has about 40 junior female players through their under 12s and under 16s teams.

An under 19s female team was planned for the upcoming season, which Ms Bukofsan said fell through due to the lack players and team members not progressing through the younger age grades.

Ms Bukofsan said a consistent senior women’s team is essential for the club’s development.

“It’s the direction we want to go in,” she said. “We have our clubrooms being modified to suit female football.

“This is what we’re 100 per cent passionate about, getting this up and running. AFLW doesn’t get the publicity that AFL gets and that’s where it’s harder to get people aware of this.

“The under 19s would have been a field in to the seniors but unfortunately, we won’t have that this year. That’s something to push for next year.”