Ben Gilby spoke to Neil Bennett, Head of Football Operations at inaugural WA NPLW Top Four Champions Northern Redbacks, about their successful 2020 season and their push for more silverware in 2021 as this season approaches its conclusion.
Northern Redbacks have been a women-only club since it originally formed as Morley Windmills in 1991.
Bennett takes us through the story of the club’s development: “After relocating to a new ground in 1993 and changing its name to Stirling Reds, the team enjoyed much success, winning the league seven times between 1991 and 2003. In 2003 the club rebranded itself as Northern Redbacks when Stirling Reds and Sorrento FC combined to form one team. The name was chosen to send the message that it wasn’t tied to one district and was open to players from anywhere. The redback spider is also known for its tenacity and nasty bite.
“Since 2003, the club has continued to enjoy much success with seven more league titles which included three league and cup doubles. It’s also still the only female club in Western Australia to have won the Interstate Challenge Club, when they defeated Adelaide City in Adelaide in 2013.
“A further important development took place in 2015 when the club re-introduced a junior program after not having had one for three years. The need for a junior program was recognised as a high priority by the club if it were to be part of any NPLW competition, and by 2017 the hard work was rewarded as the U15s won a league and cup double, and two players were selected to represent WA at the National Championships.
“Another significant milestone occurred in 2019 when the club sent an U16 team to Gothenburg in Sweden to take part in the Gothia Cup, thus becoming the first female team from WA to do so. In 2020, the club signed a three-year sponsorship deal with global mining company EPIROC, which we feel will help us compete against all the other NPLW teams who have the backing of large men’s teams behind them.”
With Western Australia’s NPLW finally being launched in 2020, Bennett outlined his observations on the state of play so far.
“Initially at least there has been little change except for the names of the teams. The competition is still in its infancy and until the proper structures are in place with teams being forced to field U18 and Junior teams and the points system for players is enforced there is little chance of much change. We are already seeing the emergence of a concentration of the best players at two or three clubs and the NPLW was set up to prevent this sort of thing happening.
“Additionally, the standard of play hasn’t changed much compared to the old state league in terms of players, with the same core still dominating the scene. We are yet to see the emergence of new talent, although there are signs that some young players are beginning to grow in stature. The standards won’t improve until we see all the clubs adopting a true pathway from U14 through to the NPLW, and there is still one club in the NPLW with no junior teams at all.”
Turning back to focus specifically on the Northern Redbacks, Bennett outlined the club’s impressive coaching structure.
“We have a head coach and assistant coach for the NPLW, plus a coach for the U23s. The head coach and U23s coach have both had professional experience in playing the game in Chile and the UK respectively. We have accredited coaches for our amateur team which is basically an U18 side playing in an adult environment to help them prepare for eventually playing the U23s or first team. Our U16 coach is one of our first team players and is a C class licence holder.
“We think it’s essential that our junior teams get to see the sort of levels they need to achieve if they want to play for our first team. Our U14s coach has been given the task of ensuring the youngest players in the club start to learn the way the club likes to play its football, which is possession-based and puts high emphasis on technical skills. We also have a female coach who looks after our social team. There is a head of football whose task is to ensure the coaches have the equipment and resources they need, and we also have a technical director who oversees the coaches and helps them whenever they need assistance.
“We take great pride in providing opportunities for our players from the time they join us at age 12 to being able to play at the highest level, and that may mean they move to other clubs to fulfil their ambitions. This season we have given first-team debuts to ten U17 players, with two of them scoring on their debuts! Our motto has been if they are good enough they are old enough, but we are also mindful of pushing players too early. Some players become impatient if not given opportunities to play at a higher level and move on to other clubs. Whilst this is frustrating, we recognise those players have every right to do so, and we always hope they enjoy their football in their new surroundings.
“We look to move our players through the age groups but will accelerate that progress if they show potential. This sometimes means they only train with senior teams, but we are always trying to push them to achieve their potential. We feel that it’s essential for a pathway to start at the U14 level then onto U16, U18 and the U23s. We have that in place right now and are seeing the results of the hard work bear fruit.”
We then turned the conversation to the Redbacks’ success in the inaugural NPLW competition – something achieved against the backdrop of Covid.
“The biggest issue in 2020 was keeping the players fit and also their mental wellbeing. Some of the team lost jobs and others had part-time jobs that disappeared. It was very stressful for many of them and we were acutely aware of that. We also lost the capacity to generate income from our canteen sales, so it was pretty tough.
“Additionally, we seemed to pick up a lot of injuries when the season finally started. Some of the players also weren’t prepared for the more intense games, as they had been used to only having to raise their game against two opponents, whereas NPLW meant the teams were more organised and the games became tighter.
“In the tighter games, some of the players couldn’t cope with the mental pressure and as a result, we were only just able to scrape into the top four. The top four campaign was an example of a group of experienced players standing up and refusing to be beaten by going to penalties twice in the space of four days after 120 minutes to claim the title. At the end of the season, we took stock of our senior playing group and some difficult decisions had to be made, but we wanted to ensure we had more resilience in the team and also wanted to get back to playing a more patient and measured style of football. The new coach (Carlos Vega-Mena) has certainly brought that mentality to the squad and the results this season have shown that the message is being picked up on by the players.
“Our stand out player last season was Kim Carroll, who was our player of the season and was easily the best defender in the competition. Her calm presence at the back and precision passing was vital to the side. Morgan Aquino was another who really stood out, and her injury was a setback for us but we coped with our reserve keeper Maya Diederichsen stepping in for a long period. Sarah Carroll was once again our golden boot, and Carla Bennett provided us with the drive and guile out of midfield.”
With the Redbacks being a women-only club, I asked Bennett what the specific advantages and disadvantages are in that when they are coming up against opposition backed by men’s clubs.
“There are actually more disadvantages, as we struggled until recently to attract sponsors, and didn’t even have a club room until 2016. This prevented us from raising funds via canteen sales. Our playing base is tiny (just over 100 players) compared to the mixed-sex teams, so our registration fee income is much smaller than other clubs as well. We have to work hard on developing a sense of loyalty and we feel this is the biggest advantage we have, as we currently have four players in our first team who have played over 200 games, and two others who have played over 150 games. Parents who bring their daughters to us also make it clear they have come to us because we are female only and they know their daughter will be getting the full weight of the club behind her and not shared between the boys’ teams who often get the better treatment.”
As the NPLW is such an important component in the development of players to play in the W-League, I asked Bennett what the club’s links were like with Perth Glory at the present time.
“Up until now, as far as we are aware of, there is no relationship between Perth Glory and any other NPLW club. Having said that, new coach Alex Epakis is trying to change that and we welcome that initiative. We have worked closely with the Football West NTC over the years and would be delighted to do so with Perth Glory as well.”
With the team playing the last game of the season on Friday against MUM FC in a title decider, Bennett outlined what he saw as the reasons for this strong showing in 2021.
“We basically tried to retain as many of our squad from last season whilst trying to build from within. We didn’t look to bring in new players but if players approached us then we were happy to have a look. We’re really focussed on developing our own players, as we feel this rewards loyalty from those who choose to join us.
“This season we have shown a really strong resilience and team spirit, with our senior players demanding the highest standards on and off the pitch for the younger players to reach. Redbacks teams always enter competitions to win, and we aim to be as competitive as we can be. It’s going to be a hard game on Friday, as MUM FC are a very good side but we believe in this group of players and our coaches, so fingers crossed another piece of silverware will be ours again.”
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