Strong participation numbers have seen the association once again commit to running a stand-alone girls competition on Monday nights.

Four teams, made up of girls between 12 and 14 age groups, will play eight-game seasons throughout the year.

President Claire Hynes, who took over the role in 2020, said in her seven years with the association there had not been a stand-alone girls competition.

"Some of the mums remember playing in the girls comp but it has been a number of years since we have had one," she said. "The community have been asking for a while now and it is good we are able to provide it. It's a big deal for us.

"We had one many years ago but it dropped off.

"The girls have had to play with the boys in recent years and the numbers of girls kept dropped off because they didn't want to play with the boys. We had a handful in 2019 so we introduced Aussie Hoops just for girls to help develop young players.

"We had two Aussie Hoops session last year run by Warrnambool Mermaids players Jae Leddin and Soraya Kearney-Knox.

"We had two programs and they were to capacity. This year they were also full so we knew we had enough girls to run a competition."

The association is also running its Aussie Hoops programs on Mondays. The 45-minute girls rookies session is from 3.45pm and the one-hour all-stars from 4.40pm.

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