Demons prevail while lending helping hand

Originally published in Dubbo Photo News

The Dubbo Demons women’s side has shown sportsmanship and class, loaning players to the Bathurst Bushrangers in their comfortable win on Saturday.

Performing in front of a large crowd as the club celebrated its fortieth year, the women ran out under the careful leadership of Kaitlyn Waldie and Mikaela Cullen.

To mark women’s coaching month, the reins were handed over by team coach Peter Martinoli.

Waldie said she brought the idea of taking over for a game to Martinoli early last month, after thinking she’d like to give coaching a try.

“We’ve got a lot of really experienced women, that actually could have performed the role, however, I asked and another player Mikaela [Cullen] also wanted to be involved. Peter was very gracious and gave us full liberty pick a game that suited us.”

The Demons had a convincing win over the Bushrangers, with Waldie saying she consciously pushed several players out of their usual positions to help develop their skills.

“It would have been very different for a lot of the players today, there would have been a lot of players that played out of position,” said Waldie.

Looking at the team performance Waldie said she was proud of how the team adjusted to their new roles. She said she believes it is important to have that flexibility among players, so that they are ready to be thrown into any situation.

“Doing the same thing in and out every week with the same team in the same positions doesn’t necessarily create a robust team.

“A lot of people played in a lot of new positions, so you know, God forbid, someone gets Covid-19 or someone’s unavailable or something like that, I think people have had time and experience in different positions over the last little bit to build their confidence.

“Now, if names need to be moved on a board and on the field, coming closer to finals, they’ll be more okay with it because of games like today.”

Further adding to the movement of players out of their usual position was the decision to loan players to the Bushrangers. With the Bushrangers travelling with low numbers, the Demons enthusiastically loaned three players each quarter to help ensure the game went ahead.

“The Bushies travelled today and only had 13 available players. I wouldn’t have wanted to play 12 and 12 and had seven on our bench. I don’t think the competition benefits from that, I don’t think the league benefits from that, I don’t think we benefit from that as a club,” said Waldie.

A pre-game conversation set the parameters for loaning players and allowed the game to go ahead at 16-a-side.

Waldie said that as odd as it sounds, she believes that actually playing for the opposition against your own team can be incredibly beneficial for players.

“I think also playing for the opposition, as strange as it sounds, gets you to look and see how to shut down your own team.

“If you were playing on our full forward, you could try a whole lot of different things and they probably would be a lot more receptive in talking to you about what they like someone to do, what they don’t like someone to do. I’m not going to give away my game secrets to an opponent, but I would talk to my own teammate about how I play.”

Three junior players stepped up into the team this week, each playing nearly a full game. Waldie said it was great to see them returning, and she hopes to see them move into the senior side next year. Surrounding them with the support of experienced players helps to build their confidence and develop their play style, she said.

Reflecting on the importance of stepping up this week and acknowledging women’s coaching month, Waldie said she thinks it is an important area to engage women in.

While female participation in Australian rules football has grown by 187 per cent since 2017, the coaching community hasn’t seen the same growth.

“I think it’s really important because I don’t believe that you coach women the same way that you coach men. I think there’s been so many phenomenal women that came before all of us here [in this team] that got the competition to where it is now and I don’t understand where they’ve gone. They could be in positions of leadership. They could be in positions of coaching.

“They have been involved for decades; they should really be in coaching positions because they get women’s football,” said Waldie.

The team is now preparing for their top-of-the-table clash against the Bathurst Giants at South Dubbo Oval this weekend. The teams have faced each other four times this year, each coming away with two wins. The winner will sit a game ahead on the ladder, likely to secure a ride straight into the AFL Central West women’s grand final.

The Demons and Giants women’s teams always put on an outstanding showcase of football, and Waldie is as excited as ever to face them once again.

“We’ve got a really good team this year and I think it’s a really good opportunity for us to come out with our best foot forward next week. A lot of our players really mentally and physically prepare for [Giants] games a bit differently. They know from the get-go that every contest is going to be hard that you’re going to have to run it every ball,” she said.

“I wish every game was like that because they are my favourite games.”