Tara Murray
The Calder Cannons have a spread of talent across the ages for the Coates Talent League girl’s season.
The Cannons released their list ahead of their season kicking off on April 1, with a nice mix of 16, 17 and 18-year-olds. There are also two 19-year-olds on the list.
Cannons coach Ross Smith said it was good to see some familiar faces back on the list along with some new ones.
“The 16s get better and better every year with more girls playing Australian rules,” he said.
”We’ve got some new girls in the 17s and a few in the 18 bracket. It’s always nice to see girls who have been in the system and missed out and come back.
“There’s a couple of fresh faces across the board.”
Smith, who coached both the boys and girls teams the last couple of seasons, said it was more enjoyable focusing on just one program.
“I haven’t done either job justice the last couple of years,” he said. “We had one coach doing the two under-18s, two under-16s and metro, it was diluting everything.”
The Cannons future’s side had three matches in the coming weeks, before their season is done.
The futures players will train all season, with some to get opportunities in the under-18 throughout the season.
Smith said they had some high expectations on some of the girls in this season’s squad.
The Cannons have two players in the initial Vic Metro squad in Amy Gaylor and Kylah Forbes.
Smith said Gaylor is a phenomenal inside mid who has developed her outside game and is really professional.
Forbe, who is still 17, has an enormous kick.
Kayley Kavanagh, who comes from a basketball background, is another player to watch according to Smith.
Sarah Grunden has come back to the Cannons after stepping away after doing the pre-season last year.
Amy Trindale, Ava Gerada, Maddison Albrecht, Stephanie Mitchell are others of the 17-years-old, who have showed a lot.
Smith said they had a couple of really good 16-year-olds, who are in their best under-18 teams.
Chloe Baker-West had a really strong under-16 Vic Metro carnival last year, while Jade McClay is another to watch.
The Coates Talent League season kicks off on March 18. The Cannons first match though isn’t until April 1 against the Sandringham Dragons.
The Cannons boys side starts their season on March 26 against the Gold Coast Suns.
