Premier Women's Squad 2007

Western Springs will be looking to build on the sucess of last years knockout cup final appearance and their 4th place finish in the Northern Premier League. High on the agenda during the off season was for Head Coach Jose Figueira to recruit some more experienced faces to add to the youthful looking squad that served the club so well in 2006.

OUT
Katherine Robinson - Claudelands Rovers (NZ)
Maia Edgerton-Bachmann - Overseas Experience (SWI)

IN
Maia Jackman - Three Kings Utd (NZ)
Abby Erceg - Three Kings Utd (NZ)
Priscilla Duncan - Sonderesjkit (Denmark)
Jessica Rollings - Mt Maunganui (NZ)
Ariane Langford - Three Kings Utd (NZ)
Nadia Pearl - Bay Olympic (NZ)
Nicky Smith - Upper Hutt AFC (NZ)

RETURNING
Pam Yates - Sonderesjkit (Denmark) - Feb 2007
Rebecca O'Neil - Chicago Fire (USA) - May 2007
Lucy Thompson - Angele State University (USA) May 2007
Hannah Valentine - Porcia (Italy) July 2007

The summer recruitment has gone well with three major signings for the club. Maia Jackman, Abby Erceg & Priscilla Duncan are all New Zealand Internationals. The three players bring quality and experience to the team and have fitted in nicely within the team culture. Maia has also received the ultimate honour of being selected for the FIFA World XI Team to play China in April 2007. Maia and Abby are both central defenders, Abby can also play at right full back while Maia can be used as a centre forward. Priscilla is quite versatile and recently played for NZ at full back although the coaching staff see her as a central midfield player.

"Bringing in Maia and Abby has really added alot to the backline, we feel we now have six International standard defenders in the squad which is great to have. Maia brings everything plus incredible experience, Abs is still very young and is always getting better but has already made a name for herself. Cill is a class act in the middle of the park and will only get better as the season goes on, she will be a big player for us." JF

"Ariane, Nadia and Jessica are three more new faces to the premier squad, they have both come from playing Division 1 football but certainly have the ability to step into the premier league. Ariane is very versatile and will play anywhere along the backline, she will get better each week in this environment. Nadia is one we have high hopes for, she is only 14 but has a mature head on her shoulders. We would have no problems playing her in the middle of the park and has done very well pre-season. Jess is another very talented youngster, she has flair and is exciting to watch. She can play out wide or inside and could become a real star." PT

The coaching team remains the same, Jose Figuiera and Paul Temple will be in charge for their second season and hope to be challenging on all fronts. The task ahead is a big one but one the coaches feel they are ready for. "Lynn Avon and Three Kings have dominated womens football for a very long time, they have experience of winning league titles so it will be very hard to overtake them but its something we feel is within us. We won't fear any team in the country including the big two and will enter every game with confidence, there is no reason why we can't push for the league and cup but it won't be easy we know that much." JF

The coaches have not only added some new faces to the team for the coming season they have also added a new reserve team to try and aid the sucess of the premier team and develop potential stars for the future. The concept is not a new one and is used throughout the NZFC but not in womens football, there is no official reserve grade in women's football so the 'Premier Development Team' will play in Division 1 instead. Club stalwart Brent Woods will be in charge of the development team and join Jose and Paul as part of the coaching staff for the whole squad. The teams will train together each session and be part of one whole squad.

"This concept gives us alot, it means we have a squad of 34 players who all train as one team, they are given training kit and train in the same way. It provides the coaches with players to enable us to work 11v11 at training which is crucial, it adds competition for places, it enables a player to move from one team to another easily and it provides the young players with a great environment to train. We felt it was crucial for us to move to the next level, this way all the players are playing in the right position every week and getting enough playing time, they play the same system and they all know each other. It's a wonder every team in the country doesn't use this method." JF

The core of the premier team remains the same however which is something both Jose and Paul felt very strongly about. "Last season the girls were simply outstanding and we wanted to put our trust in them again this season, they deserve the chance to move forward so its was important we didn't sign a whole new team or get rid of lots of players. The balance had to be right and hopefully we have acheived that. We believe these players are good enough to beat anyone they play against, the team sprit was huge last season and its essential that remains the same for 2007." PT

Premier Squad
1. Pam Yates
2. Poppy Binning
3. Jessie Verdon
4. Chelsey Wood
5. Hannah Valentine
6. Annabelle Bramwell
7. Rebecca O'Neil
8. Priscilla Duncan
9. Helen Collins
10. Nicky Smith
11. Rosie White
12. Abby Erceg
13. Nadia Pearl
14. Sarah Nelson
15. Maia Jackman (c)
16.
17. Jessica Rollings
18. Holly Jones
19.
20. Danielle McFadyen
21.
22. Ariane Langford
23. Nikau Hindin

Head Coach: Jose Figueira
Asst Coach: Paul Temple

Premier Development Squad
1. Bianca Mori
2. Briony Fisher
3. Rachael Head
4. Emily Cooper
5. Jessie Latimer
6. Melissa Tebay
7. Ayla Surtees
8. Suzanne Stevens
9. Penny Chapman
10. Leah Tagaloa
11. CJ Follas
12. Lucile Matthews
13. Jasmine Wagner
14. Lucy Thompson

Head Coach: Brent Woods