Wagga City Wanderers have welcomed back talented midfielder Christina Grauer-Kompos for the upcoming women's NPL season.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Wanderers women have named a 25-strong train-on squad that has already got to work under coach Sam Gray.
The squad is headlined by the return of Grauer-Kompos, who spent last season with NPL premiers Canberra Croatia.
Grauer-Kompos played a handful of first grade games with Canberra Croatia but has decided to return to the Wanderers, where she is a foundation player.
Gray is thrilled to have the midfielder back at the club.
"I've coached Christina from the age of nine. Last year was the first year I wasn't able to," Gray explained.
"She's a foundation player with Wanderers. I explained the outlook we have on the game and where we would like to take the club and the pathways we want to open to players within our region and Christina has bought into it and wants to be part of it.
For us a signing like Christina, it shows we're forward thinking. She will be a very, very good acquisition for us."
The Wanderers had a record number of women trial for the squad and are already training once a week in preparation for the new season.
"The amount of local girls that are now seeing the benefits of the program and joining the squads, or trialling, we're starting to see more of that now," Gray said.
"We had an increase of locals, a couple came on from Henwood Park, a couple from Wagga United, a couple from Tumut, a couple from Lake Albert have all trialled, and they want to be involved, they now see the benefits of the pathway."
The Wanderers will again boast a real Riverina flavour next season.
Aside from a couple of Canberra players, the Wanderers feature players from Albury, Griffith, Tumut, Harden, Cootamundra and now even Forbes.
"All the girls from Albury are back. There is six from Albury. Two from Griffith, two from Tumut, four from Harden, two from Cootamundra.
"That's where we're looking. The best women's club in the Riverina, pathway wise. We give a direct pathway for the girls. They're being noticed by coaches in Canberra, who coach at higher levels.
"We run the program with one aim, to give the girls the best training available in the region and to give them the best opportunities we can. People are now starting to see that. There was hesitation to start with, people were unsure whether the program was what they wanted. We're now seeing them come and join the program."
Gray will again be assisted by Rob Tuksar, who will also coach the reserve grade team.
Gary Lyons has moved from program manager to under 17 coach, while Rod Buik will coach under 15s and Tia Lyons the under 13s.
Gray is confident the club is certainly headed in the right direction.
"Last season we won a third of our games. We also kept teams to clean sheets and not a lot of people with football understand that," he said.
"That builds confidence in a team. If you're playing a team like Monaro or Tuggernong, who are similar levels to us and we've beaten both of them 3-0 and 5-0, we're now starting to see the girls realise hang on, we can actually play now and we deserve to be here. The Wanderers girls are now starting to make that step that we all knew was there, but we just needed to tease it out of them and give them the confidence that they needed."
Squad: Amanda Armstrong, Lisa Cary, Sophie Cary, Megan Castle, Stacey Collins, Samantha Emms, Madalyn Emms, Ashley Garratt, Brooke Gayler, Siana Graham, Christina Grauer-Kompos, Tara Humphries, Ranya Khato, Piper Lockley-Hinschen, Tia Lyons, Maree Matthew, Bonny McKean, Olivia Moore, Kim Morgan, Brandy Nicholson, Abby Nolan-Hodges, Hannah Stevens, Ava Tuksar, Suze Waia, Abby Wood
READ MORE
