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The Central Coast Unity Bank Women’s League will look different in 2022 as we welcome Ourimbah and Woy Woy to the competition, and unfortunately say goodbye to Gosford, Kariong and Woongarrah. WPL for the 2022 Season will be a 9-team competition that is scheduled to kick off on the 3rd of April

Click here to view all WPL Fixtures.

East Gosford

Opening 3 Fixtures – Bye, Wyong (A), Umina (H)

East Gosford will have to wait a week longer than everyone to get their season started as Jorge Chavez’s Ram’s side have a Bye in Round 1.

Chavez’s side will look a little different this year after a few players have moved on, this has allowed Jorge to promote within his squad and give his younger players a chance.

“We have lost a few players from last year and that has allowed the chance to promote from within which we have managed to do, we have a lot of youngsters coming through which has added excitement to the squad. A lot are 17,18,19-year old’s who are eager to play women’s premier league.”

East Gosford has high aspiration to play finals football in both grades, “Expectations are quite good. Everyone is excited and there is a lot of enthusiasm in the squad this year. We are going to push as much as we can to try to make the top 4 in both grades and I think we have the squad to do that, but time will tell,” said Chavez.

Expect to see a very determined East Gosford side in 2022.

Kanwal

Opening 3 Fixtures – Wyong (H), Woy Woy (A), Southern (H)

Kanwal will welcome a new head coach in Allan Bourke who will take charge of the Bulls for the 2022 season.

Kanwal started their 2021 WPL campaign in a very strong fashion and was well on track for a finals spot, anticipate much of the same from this Bulls side come 2022. “The team is starting to come together nicely. This will be my first year with this squad. We have lost a couple of good players from last year but were able to pick up more than adequate replacements,” stated Bourke.

Despite a far from perfect preseason, Bourke insists the squad is ready to start the competition in a strong fashion. “This preseason, like all teams have been affected by the rain. In saying that we are looking more and more organised each week which hopefully will set us up for a good start to the season.”

Bourke has nothing but high praise for his squad and their season ahead stating “Our aim like every year is to make the top 4. I’m extremely confident this will be achieved.”

In Round 1, The Bulls will welcome Wyong to Wadalba Sports Complex as they look to secure all 3 points in front of a home crowd.

Killarney

Opening 3 Fixtures – Umina (H), Terrigal (H), Ourimbah (A)

Adam Tait’s WPL squad will look utterly different come 2022 as The Terriers look to be a very competitive outfit after a great Association Cup showing.

Although the Association Cup is a preseason competition and new players are still getting gelling with each other, Killarney seems to have picked up on the right track straight away including some great results on the back of some tremendous performances.

Tait voiced that his preseason could have been a lot better despite the great results his team produced. “Preseason has not been a good one with players having been sick or unavailable due to injuries.”

“We have a lot of changes compared to last season and our expectations are to be competitive and for my players to enjoy the season ahead.”

Tait understands the giant task at hand when they face the 2020 Premiers Umina at home in their first match, “It’s an extremely hard first game for us, Umina would have to be the favourites this season.” The Terriers will be out to make a statement to the rest of the competition come round 1 if they can pick up a result against Umina.

Ourimbah

Opening 3 Fixtures – Woy Woy (H), Southern (A), Killarney (H)

Ourimbah’s first year in WPL, steered by Dave Hurley, will be a year to remember for his squad and Ourimbah as a club.

Hurley who took charge of Woongarrah’s WPL last year finds himself at a new home for the 2022 season, home of the Falcons. Hurley is very excited about his new adventure and how his squad is developing.

“We have recruited well within the club and some new members have also joined our squad, as well as a strong player base from last season. Considering this is year one of our new venture, we have no benchmarks to work from, other than our internal player base and how our structure will improve and evolve during the season.”

When it comes to Hurley’s expectations of his squad for 2022, he states “The early phase of the winter 2022 competition we will be looking at each game on a week-by-week basis and not looking too far forward. Our main aim will be working on our structure and setting our own internal achievements to aim for.”

Southern & Ettalong

Opening 3 Fixtures – Terrigal (H), Ourimbah (H), Kanwal (A)

Augusto Terra is confident his Southern & Ettalong side will be one of the competition’s best in 2022.

Terra believes WPL this year will be a very close battle as the competition over the years keeps getting stronger and stronger, but Terra is hopeful his team will be amongst those playing Finals Football come to the end of the year.

“The team is shaping up well, I believe the team will be stronger than last season. We have some very good teams in the competition, but I believe we will be very competitive and will try to push to be one of the top 4.”

Despite and hold up in their preseason schedule, Terra and his Lionesses will be ready for their opening game. “We have worked well during pre-season, the multiple weeks of rain have had an impact on it, but we will be ready for kick-off come round 1.”

Southern will hope to start their year in a very strong fashion as they host Terrigal at James Browne Oval.

Terrigal

Opening 3 Fixtures – Southern (A), Killarney (A), Bye

Before competition stopped last year due to Covid, Terrigal’s WPL were hitting their stride and found themselves in 2nd place with a game in hand. The O’lasses will look to carry this momentum and start strong in 2022

Looking after the Terrigal WPL team this year is Gregory Parker and Peter Blair. Parker is expecting a very close competition but has plenty of confidence in his side. “We are quietly confident of being in finals contention at the end of the season. Peter and I expect the competition will be hotly contested. We expect lots of high quality, close games.”

“The squad has more depth for season 2022, it is good to see locally developed footballers step up to WPL.”

“Preseason training has been dictated by the rain. Fortunately, we have been able to modify our training to suit the venues we have. The squad are very keen to get started with season 2022.”

Terrigal has suffered in pre-season with factors out of their control like the rest of the competition but are raring to get started come round 1.

Umina

Opening 3 Fixtures – Killarney (A), Bye, East Gosford (A)

Umina will once again be one of the favourites to take out the WPL competition for the upcoming season.  The E-Gals, coached by Steve Donaldson, have the artillery in their squad to make their mark against the others in the competition.

“Our team is showing a lot of promise for this season. We were able to recruit ideal players to fit positions for those few that left the team. Whilst also recruiting players that will be knocking on the Starting 11, so as an overall squad I feel we’re a lot stronger than years past,” said Donaldson

Like every year, Donaldson will have extremely high beliefs when it comes to his team. “As always, I expect a lot from my squad, even more so without our main rivals Gosford. We’re really looking to get ahead in this competition.”

“I was surprised how well the majority of the squad was able to last in our first Association Cup game,” commented Donaldson when asked about preseason.

Expect to see Umina fighting hard all year to be crowned Champions of WPL.

Woy Woy

Opening 3 Fixtures – Ourimbah (A), Kanwal (H), Wyong (H)

Woy Woy are the other new club along with Ourimbah to join WPL for the 2022 Season. Although the club may be new, they boast a lot of experienced WPL players with multiple title winners within the squad.

Player-coach Lucy Metcalfe, formally at Gosford, will take the reins of Woy Woy for their inaugural WPL year. “The team is completely different to last season, we have a mixture of new and old girls which is great to see! We are shaping up nicely.”

“Preseason has been very busy for us, trying to get game fit ready for the season to start”

“With a new squad this year I would like to see us train and play hard, keeping a positive attitude throughout the year no matter what the results,” said Metcalfe

There will be plenty of eyes on Woy Woy this year as a majority of Gosford players from last year will lace up the boots for Woy Woy come round 1. A lot is still unknown of this Woy Woy team but expect them to be a tough competitor all year.

Wyong

Opening 3 Fixtures – Kanwal (A), East Gosford (H), Woy Woy (A)

Andrew Halton will take over for his father Paul as head coach for Wyong in their second year in WPL. Paul has done an exceptional job steering Wyong in the right direction for their inaugural WPL season and now leaves it up to his son to continue.

Andrew Halton is happy with how his team this season is evolving and that his squad is going to embrace the challenges they face week to week.

“Unfortunately, we lost a couple of key players from last year however we have been able to bring in both young talents as well as some experienced players. The squad is developing well and will be up for any challenge thrown at them this season.”

“After our return to WPL last year, the season ended at a time when we had momentum picking up good results. I expect the girls to create some momentum early in the season and to push on and challenge for finals. We have a good group of girls who I’m sure will be up for it,” stated Halton.

Wyong is no longer the new kids on the block, and after half a season of experience in the competition last year, you can expect a lot more from the Emu outfit this time around.