Tara Murray
The Craigieburn Eagles are setting the bar high in the Big V women’s division 1 competition.
After finishing bottom with four wins last season, the Eagles have recruited well in the off season and will enter this year with a new team.
Coach Andrew Seidel said things were a lot better than 12 months ago when he was struggling to get a team together.
“We’ve managed to get an import and we’ve recruited a damn good side,” he said.
“We need to have some success at the club.”
After not having an import for a number of seasons, the Eagles have signed American Courtney Strait.
Seidel said the two parties had been in contact for a couple of years and things had finally fallen into place.
“We reached out two years ago and we weren’t able to get it done,” he said.
“She was going to go to Spain this year but didn’t get the paperwork across and she reached back out and I spoke with the club.
“She brings a wealth of experience having played in Germany, the UK and Spain. She brings an immense amount of experience and talent to the club.”
Strait arrived in the country a couple of weeks ago and has already been on court in a couple of practice matches.
Joining her on court is Ellen Cox, who comes from the Waverley Falcons and Myra Wood, who comes from Southern Peninsula, both state championship sides.
Seidel said they wanted to add a bit of higher level experience to the group.
Three girls Seidel previously coached in youth league at the Sunbury Jets have also come across.
Alana Ellis, Molly Young and Adele Rogers are keen to test themselves at division 1 level.
Rounding out the side are some players from last season’s squad and Craigieburn juniors.
Carley Cranston, who won the youth league one most valuable player last season will play just seniors this season.
Seidel said they were looking forward to seeing what she can do.
“It’s about her understanding that she doesn’t have to be the main point scorer every week,” he said.
“We just want her to slot into the women’s program and do her bit. We don’t need superstars, we just need everyone to play their role and it falls into place.”
Seidel said the team had their sights on playing in state championship.
“We’re setting the bar high,” he said. “We played Sunbury in a practice match and they beat us on the buzzer.
“We know where we need to go and it should hold us in good stead this year.”
