Southern & Ettalong v Kanwal
The 2023 instalment of the Women’s Scribal Premier League sees us say goodbye to Ourimbah, Woy Woy, and Wyong but welcome Kincumber into the competition as our newcomers. With seven clubs battling it out for the crown of premiers this season, WPL will be a 21-round competition in 2023.
Our WPL Round 1 Match of the Round will see Kanwal travel to the peninsular to face Southern & Ettalong as both teams will have a point to prove come Sunday.
With Southern being the only WPL team to sit out of the Premier Autocare Association Cup, a lot is unknown about what this side will look like in 2023.
Southern has not played since last year’s Grand Final in which they come up short against Umina 6-0. The Lionesses squad would have been extremely disappointed in themselves to go out that way after such a tremendous season and will be fired up to amend that loss with a statement win in round 1 this weekend.
The Lionesses welcome new head coach Jules Higginson-Smith as she will look to build on this side very successful 2022 and states she is excited for the challenge.
“Excited and privileged. Cait and I are new WPL coaches at SEUFC. We have a great working relationship that brings fresh football experience and leadership in coaching women’s teams. There is a great player and leadership group within the club, that has an exciting and aligned vision for 2023 and beyond.“
“We have built 5 squad goals for this season. I have the expectations that Cait and I build the environment for the team to be in the best position to fulfil them,” voiced Jules.
More big news coming out of the Lionesses camp is the departure of star striker Emily Diaz. Diaz was a force to be reckoned with for this side last season, picking up the WPL Golden Boot and Player of the Year award and is sure to leave a void for Southern this season.
Southern still has veteran players in their ranks such as Elaine McConaghey and Catherine Higginson who are very familiar with the WPL competition and will play a key part in the success of the Lionesses this season.
Starting the year off on their home ground James Browne Oval will sure be a bonus for Southern as they only lost one home game in the entire 2022 season. Jules will be hoping James Browne Oval will serve as a fortress for her squad again this season.
“A first-round win, who wouldn’t want it! It immediately contributes to the season’s success both mentally and on the table.”
Also welcoming a new head coach to take the reins for the 2023 season is Kanwal as Benjamin Raychaudhuri returns after a two-year absence from the Bulls. “It feels like a fresh start. I had 2 years away to refresh the batteries and believe I have returned a new, better person and coach,” stated Ben.
Kanwal failed to live up to their own high expectations last season as they finished the year in sixth place with only six wins to their name. But with a new coach and an influx of new players, there is plenty to look forward to for the Bulls this season.
“We are a totally different squad. We have something like 13 to 14 new players, and they all bring a new level of enthusiasm and excitement, so it has been a good refresh for the existing players too. Watching from the outside last year, I feel the girls didn’t really enjoy the season, for whatever reasons. So, my expectations for this year are to have the girls enjoy their season, play with a smile on their faces and hopefully, that will translate into performances,” voiced Ben.
Kanwal’s performances in the Association Cup will give this side the utmost of confidence heading into week one. The Bulls recorded wins over Kincumber (3-2), Killarney (4-2), and only recorded losses to competition favourites Umina 2-1 and 2-0. However, the Bulls were extremely competitive in both games against the E-Gals who are the benchmark of the competition.
Much like the rest of the competition, Kanwal will not know what to expect of their opposition come Sunday but will be extremely mindful of last year’s results as Southern was able to defeat them on both occasions with a scoreline of 5-1 in both fixtures.
“A win on Sunday isn’t going to make or break our season. We have loads of new players and it will take time to build new combinations. I’m not looking at the result in round 1 as such, but more at the way we perform and how we stick to the game plan. I expect Southern to shoot out of the blocks. They have had the Grand Final result hanging over their heads for the entire preseason so they will be determined to make amends ASAP. We finished a long way behind them last year with something like a 12-2 aggregate score over 2 games so we will be up against it.”
All WPL Round 1 Fixtures:
