The club expects athletes from the Warrnambool and Colac regions to make their way to Deakin University’s Waurn Ponds Campus for the Cats’ identification day on November 12.

The day is designed in the ilk of the AFL Draft Combine, with testing to include 20 metre sprints, vertical jumps, agility, a 2km time trial and general football skills tests.

Cats VFL Women’s coach Paul Hood said the football skills component could likely be more of an educational session at this stage.

“At the moment, it looks like we’re going to have about 100 (attend), maybe more,” he told The Standard.

“We’ve had applications from all over the Eastern half of the country.

“Obviously most of them are from the Geelong region and a few down Warrnambool and Colac way.”

Hood said recruiters were casting the net far and wide at this stage, encouraging not just Aussie Rules footballers but athletes from all sporting backgrounds to attend.

Warrnambool-born Natalie Woods is one of three assistant coaches for the Cats, bringing with her a wealth of experience, having represented Victoria 10 times as well as earning three All-Australian selections.

Hood, who has previously coached Geelong’s VFL men’s team and the Geelong Falcons in the TAC Cup, said it was an exciting time in football for female players.

“Lots of friends of mine say, ‘If only it happened 20 years ago’,” he said, laughing.

“I’ve got two young daughters myself and they’re really excited that they and their friends can one day (play footy).

“It’s really great and the girls are thinking, ‘Why can’t we do what the boys do?’.”

Warrnambool this year launched its first female football team, with South Warrnambool leading the charge in the region.

Co-coach Daryl Fary said while there were a couple of players at the club who might be the right age to trial, he expects to see a big surge in numbers vying for spots at a state or national level in two-to-three years’ time.

“Our biggest talent in this area is probably coming from our 15-to-16-year-old girls,” he said.

“(Female footy) is going ahead very, very quickly – it’s hard to keep up.

“We had a squad of 24 players from this region who went to the Western Rebels 2015 and this year we had a squad of 80 players to pick from for the same side.

“In 2017, the AFL has another 103 new registered women’s teams in Victoria.”

Any females interested in registering for the talent identification day can do so on the Geelong Cats website, with the $25 fee also including a singlet. Registration closes Friday, November 5.