Tara Murray
After years of hard work and plenty of ups and downs, Kyneton’s women’s side will finally play finals.
The Tigers are undefeated in the Riddell District Football League this year and are premiership favourites.
For the group, playing finals is a reward for all the hard work that has been put in over the years since starting a side in 2014.
Tigers women’s football operations manager and vice-captain Natalie Korinfsky said it was pretty exciting to get to this point.
“We didn’t win a game for two years,” she said.
“We have worked on creating a competitive, inclusive and respectful culture on and off the field.
“Hosting events such as Pride Cup and our first home ground Indigenous Round, coming up this weekend.
“We missed out on what should have been our first finals series last year due to administration errors and league decisions that were out of the club’s hands.
“The club has been steadily on the up over the last five years and has flourished under Phil Hawkes, Kylie Munro and Belinda Hateley as the Tigers coaching team.”
Korinfsky said the move to the RDFL this season had been a massive move in the right direction.
The club has previously played in the Central Victorian Football League Women’s competition, but joined the new RDFL competition this year.
“The RDFNL as a league has worked hard to set up the women’s comp as equal to the men’s comp from the beginning,” she said. “The team and players have appreciated their matches videoed each week and being able to reflect on stats from Premier Data to help make improvements, both with individual players and at a whole team level.
“We feel like we aren’t an afterthought, we are included, resourced and treated just like every other team in the League.
“They have been amazing to deal with from the get go, very professional and ready to consult with all the teams to ensure they make considered and well thoughtout decisions. It has been a wonderful experience, and we are keen to continue supporting the growth and development of the league for many years to come. We can’t thank them enough for inviting our team to be part of the list for its first year.”
After the disappointment of not playing finals last season, the Tigers got to work early in the pre-season, determined not to let anointing set them back.
Korinfsky said they weren’t taking anything for granted for the rest of the season.
“Our preseason started early, we are training hard two nights a week, and have a great team of players who have bought into what we are trying to achieve.
“Phil and the coaches have us playing well thought out systems and structures so we are confident in taking on any team.
“Our fitness has also been a big factor in being able to run out games.
“We aren’t taking anything for granted, and we know on any given day any of the teams in the comp could beat us. We are determined to continue working hard to keep them at bay so we can take home the ultimate reward for our efforts.”
The Tigers finish the home and away season on Saturday against Romsey and the club will host an Indigenous match.
A smoking ceremony and a welcome to country will be carried out by Uncle Mick Harding, who also designs a special Indigenous jumper for the club.
