Tigers on the hunt for female players

THE callout is on for women’s players to come and don the yellow and black for the proud Torquay Tigers Football Club.

After two difficult years during the pandemic, senior women’s coach Josie Smith has been proud of how the side has started off their 2022 campaign despite some injury and COVID-19 curveballs.

“We’ve had a good start to the season with the club being competitive against some great opposition,” Smith said.

“However, as is the theme at the moment, injuries, work and the pandemic have thrown a bit of a curveball in and we have been scratching for players at times.

“We’ve got a fantastic program through from our U/15s all the way through to our senior divisions and invite any ladies that are interested to come down to training on a Wednesday or Thursday night.”

Now in their fourth season in the Epworth Senior Female Football competition, the Tigers are looking to assert themselves on the second division after being elevated from third division following a strong season in 2021 in which they finished second on the table.

“Division two has been a great challenge for our team after being a strong side in the third division last year,” Smith said.

“With only 15 players a fortnight ago, we took it right up to league heavy hitters Drysdale and only went down by five points.

“As much as it has been frustrating to have injuries and work and pandemic interruptions, the ladies have been so supportive of each other.

“It’s given us a great chance for around a dozen U/18 players to debut, which has certainly benefitted their confidence and made that jump up from junior age groups to seniors a little bit easier.”

The Tigers have bounced between the three Epworth Senior Female divisions since their first season in 2019 and key to their strong results has been their player retention.

“We’ve got an amazing leadership group down at the club and it is something that we’ve certainly built over the course of time,” Smith said.

“We hope that by getting more numbers, it’ll assist us to continue the great social and inclusive atmosphere we’ve got at the club.

“It also helps us to train up and find the new leaders of our club.”

The team train on Wednesday nights at Spring Creek Reserve 6-7.30pm and on Thursday nights at The Quay Torquay from 6-7.30pm.

They ask any players that want to be involved to come down and meet the team at these sessions.