SWFL 2023: South Bunbury women’s team begin new era of football

A new era of women’s football has begun at Hands Oval, with South Bunbury hitting Hands Oval on Monday night for the first session of pre-season training.

The session marked the first official women’s football commitment for the Tigers since club officials withdrew their women’s team nomination mid-season last year after several off-field issues.

Newly appointed coach Berend Kaaks told the South Western Times there was an ideal mix of participants at the session.

“We had a solid turnout for night one,” he said. “It was a really positive session and really great to see the level of support from within the club.”

Aside from working hard on fundamentals, there is another key ingredient the Tigers boss is keen to develop within his team.

“Pre-season for us will be a lot about bonding,” Kaaks said.

“As always, we will put a large focus on skills. In terms of the fitness component, I’ve never believed in the proponent of running for the sake of running.

“Certainly last year, we saw the women’s game is becoming more physical, so we will also need to mix a few components of that into our training over the next couple of months.”