IT IS the dawn of a new era for the VFL Women’s competition.

The Southern Saints are no more, with the side that was aligned to St Kilda from an AFLW perspective now truly merging in with the Sandringham Zebras and will share the same name moving forward.

The Zebras also have a new coach too, with St Kilda AFLW assistant and former Port Melbourne VFLW head coach Lachie Harris taking on the role alongside his AFLW duties.

“Sandringham is a club with a proud history in Melbourne’s bayside and I’m honoured to play my role in hopefully bringing further success to the club,” Harris said upon the announcement late last year of his appointment.

“I’ve worked with a number of the players already through my role with the Saints but am looking forward to hitting the ground running this pre-season with the full group.”

The Zebras have also been proactive with announcing their new signings, but also have retained nine players from their 2024 squad.

The biggest name of this group is perhaps Deanna Jolliffe, who will also take on an assistant coaching role with the side this year. Former co captains Alexandra Hynes and Tayla Kearns are also back, alongside Melanie Bertuna, Kiara Henry, Abbey Tregellis, Bella Enno, Grace Hodder and Zoe Barbakos.

Among the new faces at Trevor Barker Oval this season is several former AFLW players who was cut from their clubs at the end of last season. This includes former Hawk Sophie Locke, former Saint Beth Pinchin, former Pie and Sun Jordan Membrey and former Pies Lauren Brazzale, Eleri Morris and Erica Fowler.

A couple of the new faces have come across from other VFLW clubs. They include former Borough mid Isobel Hartog and former Box Hill pair Emily Shepherd and Erin Woodford.

There are two new faces that have made the step up from local football. Anais Everitt is the daughter of former AFL cult hero Peter, and is a ruck and forward that has been playing for Old Scotch in the VAFA.

Brooke Randall has also made the step up from the VAFA, and is a defender who has been plying her trade with Melbourne Uni.

Felicity Hilford has technically also come up from the VAFA, but only played three games in the competition last year but is better classed as a crosscode athlete after coming across from basketball.

The other new faces that have been announced so far are youngsters who have come up from the Under 18 systems and hope that although they may have missed out on their AFLW dreams last year, that is not the end of the road for that dream.

These include former Dandenong Stingray’s pair Zahlia Clarke and Kheely Cornwall, Western Australian Natasha Entwistle and Canberran Ash Patton.