It’s been over 20 years since Castlemaine’s Camp Reserve has hosted a senior football final and this weekend that drought will be broken by the inaugural Castlemaine Senior Women’s Football team.
In their first season in the AFL Central Vic Women’s League, the team has gone from strength-to-strength under the coaching of sibling duo Tiahna and Jordan Cochrane.
This weekend the top ranked side will take on Golden Square in one of two Central Victoria Football League semi-finals to be held this weekend.
Castlemaine has remained a favourite to watch this season as they’ve upset the tight hold of league forerunners Golden Square and Bendigo Thunder.
In fact, the Magpies four point win over minor premiers Golden Square in Round 7 was the first time the Bulldogs had been bested since joining the competition in 2019.
Golden Square will have everything to prove this weekend and both teams will be fighting for a grand final ticket. Loser will have to play next Friday night in a preliminary final.
Assistant Coach Jordan Cochrane is confident the Magpies can get up.
“Our best footy is a level above the rest, we just need to string it together for four full quarters,” he said. Castlemaine last hosted Golden Square in Round 16 earlier in the month, narrowly avoiding defeat as the Bulldogs made a final quarter push coming from four goals down to within two points.
The Magpies held on for a 6.8 (44) to 6.6 (42) win. Since that game the team have been working hard on their forward transition of the ball from defence.
Castlemaine experienced its first loss last Sunday in a thrilling one point defeat by Bendigo Thunder in front of a home crowd.
Golden Square will no doubt aim to find the same chink in Castlemaine’s armour this weekend.
CFNC Women’s Football Operations Manager Georgia Banks is impressed with the tenacity of the playing group and how close they’ve become in such a short amount of time.
“The power of this group of women is that they’re up against teams who have been playing together for years, and they’re not just holding their own – they’re winning. The club is really proud of where they’re sitting coming into finals”.
There certainly is a broad range of talent in the Castlemaine squad.
Shelby Knoll was back from injury last weekend kicking three goals for the Magpies. A top talent recruited from Kangaroo Flat, Shelby has also been assisting to coach the CFNC Under 16 Girls team this year. She will aim to make an impression this weekend, whilst fellow key forward Lily McNair is a hopeful return from ankle injury obtained against Eaglehawk a fortnight ago.
Defender Michelle Barkla will sit out this Sunday after a head knock last weekend.
“Mich is a significant asset in our backline and we’ll miss her this weekend,” said Coach Tiahna Cochrane, “but we have the depth to rotate other girls in and are confident we’ll be covered for the game ahead”.
Tiahna herself will be playing this weekend in what will be her fourth game for the season after recovering from illness.
The ex-Carlton AFLW player will cover the forward flank and will be essential in achieving forward entries and opening up the forward fifty for Knoll.
“There’s a sense of history with this team,” she said “at least ten of the girls playing this weekend were part of Castlemaine’s Youth Girls team back in the day. To have these women alongside us this weekend shows how important it is to have development pathways in women’s football,” she said.
Banks said everyone across the club is excited to see what our women’s footballers can do this weekend.
“The support from our men’s sides in particular has been fantastic this year and the whole club has really gotten behind the team’s journey”.
The semi final kicks off at 11.30am Sunday August 28 at the Camp Reserve. Entry is free and the club will be running a BBQ lunch.