By JARROD POTTER
CHANGEOVER and developing the youth aren’t usually the two facets you’d expect to hear from a team on the rise, but Casey Comets Women’s Premier League (WPL) coach Ian Williamson is aiming higher than last year.
The marquee signing for the Comets is South Melbourne defender/midfielder Clare Duck – a former under-17 Victorian representative – who is set to bolster their defensive stocks and have also added South Springvale premiership player Natasha Weragoda.
Williamson has plenty of opportunities on offer for his cadre of young players, with Annie Rehman and Jaymee Dudley promoted to the senior list after playing senior matches last season and also Katelyn Lee and Tamara Ballerini from the reserves team.
“The bulk of our players we’ve promoted from within because they’re ready to perform,” Williamson said.
“Our young players performed really well in our recently held Casey Cup, and they’ll be in our 17-18 person senior squad.”
The Comets will be without successful striker-pair Nicola Prins (Sandringham) and Jessica Calder (South Melbourne) who have left the club, but Williamson believes his new forward duo New Zealand international Brittany Dudley-Smith and Alexandra Gummer are set to take up the senior position within the team.
“We’ve got Brittany Dudley-Smith who’s’ going to be staying as a striker for us, Alex Gummer,” Williamson said.
“We’ve strengthened our forwards and we’ve also got Taryn Browne – she was doing VCE last year, but this year she’s more committed so we’ve got a lot of pace up front.
Casey heads to Cairnlea on Sunday and Williamson wants last year’s finish to serve as a step towards bigger success in 2013.
“We had a good preseason – won the Casey Cup – scored a lot of goals, good build up over the pre-season at training so I’m pretty confident that we’ve be very competitive,” Williamson said.
“Looking for a higher finish that’s for sure – we’re looking to get off to a big start and hopefully continue to produce some young talent.”
