Sport
27 February, 2023
Bulls fire up as ladies “nucleus” bows out in 2023
THE Mareeba Bulls Premier Men’s side is gearing up for another crack at the premiership while the ladies attempt to pull together a side for the U23 competition after only a handful of last season’s players expressed interest to play another season.
Last season, both the Premier Men’s and La-dies sides had a good chance at becoming champions but both fell just short with the men losing to the Southside Comets in the semi-final and the ladies falling in the preliminary finals to Leichhardt.
Currently the Premier Men’s side is playing in the Australia Cup before the regular season starts in a few weeks’ time while the Ladies have tried to pool their strength to put a team in the U23 competition.
Now in his second stint as Premier Men’s coach, Kane Alderton is looking to get the team more consistent and blood some up and coming soccer stars into the big leagues.
“We have lost a couple of players this season so we are lacking a bit of depth this season but it creates a good opportunity for the younger ones coming through,” he said.
While losing the first semi-finals last season was disappointing Alderton was still proud of how the boys performed especially in the later half of the season.
“Towards the end of last season, we had a good run and I think the boys realised what it takes to win.
“I still believe we are going to be competitive and definitely contenders for the premiership, it is just a matter of the boys putting in the effort and wanting to achieve that.”
While the Premier Men’s will be looking to expand on their relatively successful performance last year, it is well and truly a rebuilding season for the ladies after they withdrew from the Premier Ladies division after only a handful of last season’s players expressed their interest to play.
Veteran coach Marcello Savaglio had plans to retire from coaching but with the dire situation the ladies currently find themselves in, he felt obliged to stay on.
Savaglio said roughly four players remained from last season’s team and despite the likes of captain Nicole Ghensi remaining, the team needed to undergo a revival in the U23 competition.
“A lot of the girls who played last year have moved on and right now the club is in a position to try to pull together some kind of ladies team,” he said.
“There was a nucleus of that team that have been playing for almost 10 years and we aren’t really blessed with that new generation of talent coming through.
“There are some good younger players but they are too young to play in the premier league.”
Mareeba Bulls as young as 15 have expressed interest to move up and play in an U23 team and a few ladies who have taken a break from the sport are also on the fence about returning.
The last thing the Mareeba Bulls want to do is try and revive the ladies competition after it has been dispersed so there is a massive push from the supporters and the committee to keep the team afloat.
