Thornton Eildon FNC – 2022 Season Preview

The women’s team of Thornton Eildon Football Netball Club are gearing up for an exciting year ahead, following an off-season where they underwent a complete committee change.

Lucy McRae takes over the reins as president, leading a team of female executive committee members that includes Maggie Rigby, Lisa Stanchinotti and Jess Slapp who will continue the good work from last year.

“I am loving the role as president so far, even though it has come with its challenges,” McRae said.

“Our executive team have put in a lot of hours over the off-season to get things up and running, which is a credit to everyone involved because it has really been a team involvement to keep things moving.

“It’s nice to see everyone step up and be super positive over the off-season with getting everything ready.”

The Shinboners have again been involved with the local Eildon twilight market over the summer and had a big presence in the women’s football game at the recent Valley Vicious Rett Syndrome Awareness Cup, where eight members of the club were involved in the match.

Unfortunately, playing coach Tash Hay dislocated her knee in the final quarter of the match and will now lead her side from the coach’s box as she continues her recovery.

“She is looking at it from the positive angle where she can now focus all her energy into coaching, but we are hopeful she can play later this year,” McRae said.

“In saying this, it was great to have many of our girls involved in the Rett Cup once again and we thoroughly enjoyed the experience.”

The pre-season training program has run according to plan thus far, where the schedule recently moved to twice a week.

With players either living in the region or in Melbourne but come to the area for work, the women of Thornton Eildon are driven to play and enjoy themselves, but still have a competitive beast that motivates them to do well in season 2022.

All players associated with the club are there for the fulfilment of team involvement and along with McRae who will also take the field, look forward to playing.

“We are all very excited to play footy but we also feel the typical nerves leading into Round One,” she said.

“Everyone is giving a 100% effort and are keen to see the club succeed which makes us pumped.”