By Callum Ludwig
The Wesburn Junior and Warburton-Millgrove Senior Football Clubs are set for a boost to their playing stocks with the advent of the inaugural Wesburn Burras Senior Women’s side set to join the Outer East competition in 2024.
The team will provide a senior side for Wesburn’s junior girls to go on to play for in years to come while they have also brought back home a few players who went on to play seniors footy at other clubs.
Vice President at Wesburn Junior Football Club and the Women’s Senior Coordinator Rachael Maxwell said the idea for the senior women’s side has been on her mind for many years.
“It’s been a little bit of a dream of mine for a long period of time, and then once we had actually established the girls’ teams at Wesburn Junior Football Club going from having under 12 girls to under 14 girls and now under 16 girls, it was at that pivotal point where we had to have another stepping stone for our girls,” she said.
“My daughter plays for the under 14s, so for me, I wanted to create a pathway into a senior level side of football for women, just coming out of the Warburton-Millgrove or Wesburn Football Club.”
The team so far has a combination of women with little to no football experience to players who have played many times before, with all interested in joining encouraged to come down to pre-season and give it a go.
Ms Maxwell said it’s also an opportunity to meet new women and be a part of another community.
“One of my biggest drivers is that I’m a proud Aboriginal woman and have been a part of the subcommittee for the Indigenous Round at Warby, so developing that, immersing my culture into sports and bringing everyone else along the way is bridging a gap in the reconciliation process,” she said.
“Wesburn and Warby have done really well, I feel heard in that space as well and so I think being a woman as well, not being included or recognised in previous sports, I think it’s a huge achievement just across that aspect.”
Players held their first informal meet and greet on Wednesday 11 October at the Warburton-Millgrove rooms, getting the chance to meet each other and ask any questions ahead of the start of preseason.
Wesburn Junior Football Club President Wayne Morgan said it’s very special because they’ve got a group of women coming from multiple different clubs to be part of a new team.
“It will play a pivotal role for the younger girls in helping them progress, so hopefully they continue onto the senior football side of things,” he said.
The club are also hopeful of establishing an Under 18s side in time for the 2025 season.
Madi Ward is signed on to play for the senior side next year, having also been the assistant coach for the U14 girls team and said she’s pretty excited for next season.
“I’m already missing it very much, and I think it’s unreal and such a good accomplishment by the club itself to be able to get so many people to be part of it, it really shows what sort of club it is and how good they are,” she said.
Ashley Taylor has signed on to coach the team, having played for the Warburton-Millgrove Senior Football Club for the last 12 years, driven by the opportunity to provide the opportunity for his daughter.
Mr Taylor said he’s pretty pumped for it.
“I think they will go alright with the numbers we’ve got and the few women we have got from other clubs, I reckon we will have a pretty strong team,” he said.
“It’s been amazing seeing the junior sides making finals or playing in grand finals in their first year and now we’ve got the senior women happening and hopefully next year the U18s as well, it’s fantastic.”
