The 2019 NPL NSW Women’s season was an incredible year for the Northern Tigers and their vocal crowd at North Turramurra will be hoping for them to go that one step further this season.
A strong defence and effective football had the Tigers finish in third place after 22 rounds and even earned themselves a grand final spot where they pushed Sydney University to their absolute limits, falling just short.
The Tigers success didn’t go unnoticed with their mentor Jason Eagar picking up the coach of the year award.
Eagar’s team won’t be the underdog in 2020 and will now be looked upon as one of the favourites in the competition. This means there is an expectation for the Tigers in the upcoming season and their coach knows what they need to do.
“We have to build on 2019.
The growth of the players was immense last season and the challenge is to step it up again in 2020.”
The culture at the Tigers is a special one and this we can gather from their famous Instagram account with Maddie Bart one of the lead characters.
“The group is tight and enjoying their football.
They will compete for each other until the last minute of every game and when you have that, anything is possible.”
Eagar believes his team has various strengths that will help them take that ‘next step’.
“Unity, stability in the player roster, squad depth that will drive competition for starting places, balance of experience and youth, addition of key players in critical areas and of course, belief.”
Like most teams competing in the NPL NSW Women’s competition, the pre-season has been disrupted but it won’t deter the Tigers in round one when they travel to JJ Kelly Park to take on the Illawarra Stingrays.
Major Signings: Claire Coelho, Lauren Allan, Greta Kraszula, Beth Bernardi (promoted), Zoe Halpin, Minori Ono
Major Departures: Eliza Campbell, Emma Smith, Aimee Phillips
Up and Coming Star: Saba Murray
Player to Watch: Malia Steinmetz