Boroondara Eagles’ Round 2 Team App Cup win against Ashburton United at the modest Markham Reserve came in significant contrast to some of the reigning champions’ previous high-profile encounters.
Just last year the club was celebrating the pomp and ceremony that came with participating in two finals, including the Team App Cup at Lakeside, and the Women’s Premier League Championship game at the Veneto Club.
But with the introduction of the National Premier Leagues came about a change in the structure in the competition, and Boroondara’s big was rejected, leaving it to return to State League One in 2016.
Club head coach Manny Koutroulis provided an update on developments at the club during its “re-build phase”, including the appointment of former WPL Coach of the Year John Kyrgios as senior women’s coach.
“Without a doubt [it’s been] a challenging off-season. When you are the cup winner and minor premier of the highest league in the state, when you are no longer in it the following year, the reality is you’ve got top players who will be taken by other clubs, leaving you with a huge re-build,” Koutroulis said.
“Some clubs have struggled, but we haven’t. The first thing we did was recruit the right senior coach. John Kyrgios is well-respected, highly regarded and well qualified, an A-Licence coach and former Premier League coach of the year. I was surprised that he was available.
“With John working and the club supporting in the background, the pre-season has gone well. We have a good squad in State One and will be fielding a team in State Three below that.”
“Numbers are good and quality is good. We have a core group who have played WPL and a group of talented young girls who want to improve. So really, a big pass mark in terms of the challenges we faced. We’ve had two cup wins which have been encouraging.
It was a short but significant stint in the WPL for the Eagles, who backed up a top-four appearance in their first season in the top flight with a Cup triumph and Premiership in 2016, just falling short on penalties in the Grand Final.
“It was extremely difficult initially. Now we can reflect on what Boroondara Eagles did do in two years in the Premier League,” Koutroulis said.
“We can see we made a huge mark on the competition. I believe our entry pushed the level up further and we raised the bar even further last year, especially with Shaun Ontong on board.
“At the end of that, one would assume we would continue. We’ve come up short due to the geographic structure of the new league, but we’re passionate about women’s football, there are still some strong people involved at the club and it’s certainly not the end of us at a higher level.
The head coach said Boroondara refused to fly under the radar in the off-season, ensuring its playing and coaching structures remained strong, including supporting senior players involved in coaching youth squads – in turn driving a strong culture at the club.
“We’ve achieved a good senior squad and coaching structure, and we also continue to push the model where there’s a great link between our senior and junior players via our senior players gaining coaching accreditation and coaching our juniors girls,” he said.
“The numbers are very encouraging. We will be fielding three U14s teams, two U16s, two 11s and 12s, and really strong numbers in the 8s, 9s and 10s. The numbers are still coming through, but we will have four to five teams there.
“So the numbers are strong, even though we had many girls move to NPLW teams. Many good players still feel they’re learning from good coaching and well-supported by a club well renowned to be a strong voice for girls’ football.
Commenting on the new National Premier Leagues structure, Koutroulis said Boroondara would have no difficulty in following the criteria required for admission, and in the future would consider how it could re-enter the top flight of women’s football in the state – not ruling out a consortium or other possibilities.
However, he stressed that the current focus remains its Zagames State League One season, which commences this weekend at home against Casey Comets.
“I’m hearing there are sectors in the league that are not going great with numbers, and not all processes outlined are being followed. I can only say we as a club would be ready to follow those processes and would not struggle with numbers,” he said.
“While I understood initially there was a push for a wide geographical presence, I think in the future beyond that point you’d be foolish not to have a look and see where the numbers are, and we are a hotspot for participation.
“In the Boroondara region the numbers and the interest show two licenses can be supported. The masses certainly are in our region. We’re in a very good place, the future is strong, and our focus on improving the level of junior girls is still very strong. We’ve taken a hit but I believe we continue to thrive.
“I believe that as the year or years go by there will be a need for us to re-enter, I’m not sure in which shape or form, but we’ll look at that down the track.”