After a resurgent 2018 season the Cowra Eagles are looking to bolster numbers and improve their playing roster for the forthcoming season.
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The recruiting campaign comes after a year in which the newly re-formed women’s team went undefeated for 11 rounds before losing their Grand Final to the Mudgee Wolves.
The men’s team are also looking to improve their fortunes after a tough season at the bottom of the table, with a promotion to a higher grade coinciding with the loss of past players.
The off-season has been a busy one for the Eagles, with the club locking in the Lachlan Valley Hotel as a new major sponsor while trying to find new coaches for the men’s and women’s teams.
Outgoing playing women’s coach and committee member Courtney Gambrill said the Eagles want to get two teams for the men next year, while consolidating numbers for the women’s team.
She also added the Eagles are considering shifting the men’s team from the Bathurst District League to the Orange and District Football Association in order to find an appropriate level of competition.
“We are looking at taking them down into the lower grades so hopefully that will encourage a lot more players to come and give it a go,” she said.
The women’s team will remain in the Bathurst District League.
Gambrill, who is taking a step back from playing and coaching with the impending birth of a child, said the Eagles are looking for new coaching staff across all teams.
They recently have had an interest from a possible men’s coach, who the club is currently negotiating with.
“He has approached the club himself... which is really good because it is someone who is going to be really dedicated to doing the job,” Gambrill said, adding that the club also is urgently seeking a women’s coach due to her reduced role.
She said new players who come to the club can look forward to interactive and inclusive culture with men and women’s players actively supporting one another.
“We all share one field… usually at the end of every training we come together and play a big game.”
“We do bus trips together, if we have home games on the same day, the men get down there to support the women, the women get down there to support the men.”
Ms Gambrill also said that new players who have come to the club have stepped up and will take on greater responsibility for the club in the coming season.
“There won’t just be three main people doing all the jobs, it’s going to be shared and it’s going to work a lot better than what it did this year.”
Reflecting more specifically on the fortunes of the women’s team, Ms Gambrill said some of the upheaval across the soccer club has come from that team’s rapid success.
“We started off with what we thought was a social team and we made it to a grand final, we were minor premiers for this year,” she said.
“Considering that and how badly the season ran, it can only get better from there.”
“It looks quite bright for next year.”
New players interested in coming down for a kick, as well as interested applicants for the women’s coaching role, can contact Courtney Gambrill (0431 163 762) or Lucas Hayes (0407 974 748).
