TERANG MORTLAKE female football coach Tania Barbary believes the trailblazers of the club's first team will set the Bloods up for sustained growth into the future.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Bloods' will play their first Deakin University Female Football League match against Warrnambool Blues at DC Farren Oval on Sunday.
And with the first game under the belt Barbary believed the club would take a huge step in the right direction after a strong inaugural pre-season.
"We have consistently had 20 to 21 girls at training with six of those being under age," she said.
"They are training now and learning their skills to play next year and the year after so it's setting the club up and setting the team up in the future.
"So even though we have only 14 or 15 available to play this weekend the years to come are looking really good."
The Bloods inaugural female football side will be led in their first season by captain Brodie Humphrey and dual vice-captains Sophie Lehmann and Shae De Francesco.
Barbary, who is also entering her first game as a football coach, said the trio's peers had elected them to the roles at the final training session on Tuesday night.
"Brodie is that natural all-rounder person who does things for everyone all the time and she is very caring," The police officer said.
"She hasn't missed a training session, she is one of those people who listens, leads and always engages in the drills and encourages all the girls to have a go so she was a natural fit.
"Shae and Sophie are not far behind her either and I think the girls selected very wisely."
Barbary said she was pleased with how much her side had improved dramatically in the 10 weeks they have trained together.
She said first season was going to be a learning curve for herself as a football coach, for the girls as developing footballers and the club itself.
Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.