Top performers North Wagga and Charles Sturt University will be looking forward to finally meeting this season as the Southern NSW Women's AFL kicks off on Friday.
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The two clubs were on a collision course to the grand final before the coronavirus pandemic cut the 2020 season short just before finals.
East Wagga-Kooringal coach Amy Coote said the two clubs had been the stronger teams for a while, and she expected them to be competitive in 2021.
"North Wagga have a really good first grade coach, Nathan Dowdle, he's just phenomenal really," Coote said.
After missing out on the end of the Southern NSW season, Riverina Lions players were also locked out of the Canberra league in 2020 due to border restrictions.
While the Lions have departed the competition to focus on their Canberra efforts, many players have since moved to other Southern NSW clubs and are ready to get back out there.
"There's a lot of hunger for the game, a lot of eager girls ready to attack that footy," Coote said.
She said the Southern NSW competition was continuing to grow skill-wise, with less congestion than when the league first began.
"I think now there's more momentum and flow with the footy through the field and with the delivery into the forward line," Coote said.
"Getting the ball out of the backline has improved greatly."
Two new clubs are also coming on board this year in Collingullie-Glenfield Park and Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong.
The Lions tested their skills against the Hawks recently, and Coote said the new side showed promise.
"You wouldn't think they haven't played before, we may have won on the field but their skills were definitely good skills," she said.
At CSU, every season brings a set of new players as students come in and out of Wagga.
Returning forward/ruck Kelsey Hanlon said while many of the new girls had never played before, a few more experienced players were bringing extra skills to the side.
"We've got a really good group of girls that are all great at listening and keen to put in the effort at training, and its really paid off so far in how we're looking," Hanlon said.
"It should just be good to get out there and have a lot of fun and get the new girls confident in the first few rounds and work on that from there."
Hanlon said while both CSU and North Wagga would look different this year, she was looking forward to finally playing them.
"I think they'll be up there, they were definitely going to be contenders last year with us," she said.
"I think Ganmain will probably be a fit team as well."
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