By Marcus Uhe
Berwick’s women’s football team has emerged from the depths of obscurity to launch an assault on the Eastern Football Netball League Division 2 finals series.
In a return to the women’s competition for the first time since 2021, the team largely cobbled together from parts unknown during the preseason weathered the unwanted distraction of a mid-season coaching change to finish fourth on the table, setting up an elimination final with Montrose on at Silvan Recreation Reserve on Sunday afternoon, 11 August.
Steering the side is co-coaches Steven Woolfe and Grant Walker, who have their young side playing an aggressive, high-scoring and high-tempo brand of football that has caught other teams off guard.
The coaching panel maximised the preseason to build all-important continuity within the squad comprised primarily of 18 and 19-year-olds, and have the players on the precipice of something special in the coming weeks.
“Berwick didn’t have a women’s team so it was basically a bunch of misfits put together to make a team,” Woolfe said of the side’s origins.
“We had three practice matches before the season started, trying to work everything out – where best people play, what’s the best dynamic for the team.
“The thing that helped to gel is they’re all very young.
“That’s what we come up against; teams that have got 25/26/27/28 year old, bigger bodied women with that extra experience.
“We try to turn it into, kick it out in the open and use our run and carry, try to move the ball quickly.”
Key forward Alari Malkoun has topped the division for goals scored, with 45, forming a lethal duo with Kasey Exposito.
Supplying them with their opportunities is Zara Clavarino, Hayley Woolfe and Sophie Simpson in the middle or the ground, while Brooke Watson is the defensive general across the halfback line.
A successful run of seven wins from eight games during the middle of the year saw the women reap the fruits of their labour and put the competition on notice, before managing the injury bug in the back half of the season to secure an elimination final berth.
Berwick downed Montrose by 12 points during that run in round seven, a fourth-consecutive win at the time, before Montrose turned the tables at home in round 12, managing a 45-point win.
With no precedent or previous season’s output to work with, Berwick’s qualification for finals action is already a tremendous feat, no matter what the next three weeks entail.
Woolfe hopes it’s the stepping stone for a long future together and eventual success at Edwin Flack Reserve.
“Nobody expected to be playing finals at the start of the year,” he said.
“We didn’t know whether we were going to win two games for the year, whether we were going to win eight games for the year or whether we were going to win 10 games for the year – we had no idea.
“So there was no expectation – it was all about trying to build.
“The oldest player is 20 years old.
“If we can hold them together, in two/three years time they’ll be a powerhouse.
“If they get into the right headspace, anything could happen.”
