DESPITE feelings of disappointment with the Bays’ straight sets finals exit last year, the Glenelg playing group is focused on only looking forward in the 2025 SANFL Women’s season under new coach, Talia Radan.

Taking over the reins from Lexia Edwards at the end of last season, Radan said she had deliberately not touched on last season and instead was only focused on the future and what Glenelg could achieve in 2025.

“Coming in, I did spend a little bit of time getting across what had happened over the last 12 to 24 months and there was a really big feeling of disappointment and a bit of a wasted year I think from some of the previous players that were there last year with how they went out in finals, but I haven’t touched on that at all,” Radan said.

“We’re very much moving forward and lots of things happen and lots of changes happen in the off-season so we’re moving forward and learning new gameplans and adapting and trying to be the best team we can be, regardless of how last year finished.”

Radan was pleased she was able to get to work early in the preseason on fostering relationships with the on-field and off-field personnel, having been appointed “quite early” and putting the building blocks in for the new year. She said getting to know the people around the club was vital having not been involved with the Bays previously, and she had loved her time in the yellow and black thus far.

“We started preseason in early November so we’ve had a little bit of a longer preseason than normally this year because the SANFL not starting until mid-March when it typically starts two or three weeks earlier,” Radan said.

“So feeling really good, feeling like we’ve had a good opportunity to get things in place and learn a new game plan and try some positional changes and also introduce some great new recruits to the group too.”

Last year the Bays had a stack of AFLW-aligned talent coming back into the club, with the likes of Piper Window, Matilda Scholz, Sarah Goodwin and Ella Boag just a few of the players to have come through the Glenelg pipeline. However with the SANFLW season moving later and the AFLW season edging earlier, clubs will be without that top-up AFLW talent. While Glenelg did benefit from the experienced quality early last season, Radan said she was confident in the group she had at SANFLW level.

“One of my key messages coming in was that the expectation is that the whole group is capable of being a great team and great footballers,” she said. “We haven’t even considered the possibility of AFLW players coming back this season. It’s been ‘this is our group, we’re going to get the job done and work hard together’. We’ve actually completely disregarded it and completely moved on. We knew it was probably the most likely scenario so we haven’t addressed it at all.”

Glenelg faces Central District first up in Round 1, which will be the first of many challenges for the club according to coach Radan, who said she was “excited to crack into games” after what had been a long preseason.

“Centrals will be a great challenge, they finished roughly where we did on the table last year though we’re really clear that last year’s results don’t always count going forward,” she said. “There’s a lot of change that happens in the SANFL, so we’re very much looking forward and ahead and respect Centrals as an opposition as we do the rest of the competition.

“The thing I like about the SANFL is every week is a challenge as most of the teams are really capable and provide great competition, so it’s one of the most even competitions around from what I can see.”

It is hard not to put Glenelg in the title contender basket for 2025, with a terrific mix of youth and experience blended across all three lines. Radan said it was that blend which made her most excited about the upcoming year.

“I’m really excited to work with some very experienced players in the comp” she said. “So to have Jess Bates, Sam Franson, Marie Martino and we’ve now got Ella Quinn across from North Adelaide too. These are all really strong players who were in the state SA team senior squad last year so it’s been really exciting to work alongside them and to think that we can complement that leadership with exciting new talents coming through like the ones I mentioned before.”

As for expectations, Radan said she was not placing “any sort of limit” on what the group could achieve, with the playing group diligent with the new structures in place and hungry for the season ahead.

“I’m really positive about the way that we’re learning the new gameplan and working hard all together,” she said. “I don’t have a particularly KPI but I expect to get better as a group. “I’m very lucky to have that great complementary group of experience and youth so exciting times ahead.”

TALIA RADAN ON…

TOP-AGE STATE ACADEMY MEMBERS

Eloise Mackereth

“She’s just such a fantastic, coachable talent. Is really calm under pressure and has great composure for someone of her age which probably reflects in what she’s been able to do in front of goal over the last year or two. With that in mind we think she’s so dangerous close to goal and within the forward range that we think we’ll still play her predominantly as a forward and look to develop her and potentially play her a little bit higher up the ground.

“But Eloise is just so agile, once the ball hits the ground, she’s so hard to match up on but for her she’s also so strong aerially, she plays taller than someone of her actual height, so we often see her taking the ball at the highest point and it’s very difficult for any defender to actually get a spoil in. She’s just very, very effective above her head, but also once the ball hits the ground so I feel really lucky to coach her this year in her draft year.”

Matilda Wilmore

“‘Tild’ played 11 games last year in the League and I feel like she’s played a lot of different positions in the last. couple of years so this year I was quite keen to have a little bit of stability for her and allow her to develop one position and do that well. So she’ll probably play we think predominantly as a forward. I think for Tild’s the big growth area has been improved running capacity and real consistency in preseason. She’s very driven and really loves her football. She’s very easy to coach.”

Jordan Horne

“We’re really wanting to support her to become a bit more of a versatile player and give her some opportunities to play a bit higher up the ground. Whether that’s some midfield stints or high half-forward role, we want to develop her game, she’s probably mostly played as that small forward close to goal previously so we’re really trying to assist her to become really versatile and as you know that’s the requirement when you get to SANFL and above that players can play multiple positions, so we’ve been really working hard with ‘Jordy’ on that preseason.”

Tessa Davis

“She’s a star in the making, Tessa. She plays with composure like someone who has already played 100 League games. Amazing football IQ, lovely kick, really reads the play so well. We’re just really excited to have her play in the backline and play that key intercepting role. But she’s also got great height on her too, so she can match up really well on tall forward. We haven’t seen her for over two years. She hasn’t played since 2022 so she was cricketing, then she did her ACL so she’s a bit of an unknown. She’s one of those ones who will probably pop up and say ‘who is this kid?’. She has such amazing footy IQ, really smart.”

BOTTOM-AGE STAR

Georgie Fielder

“She only came in very late in the League season last season. So this year we’ve really been working to develop her as a midfielder and a wing. She has incredible running capacity but just her ability to see the space open up in front of her is really sharp. With Fielder we think she’s a star in the making. It’s one of those ones that managers are already contacting her two years out. She’s certainly one in two years time I can’t imagine she won’t be on an AFL list. Very coachable, driven to learn, incredibly dedicated to learning her football craft and watching her footage too. She’s got all the right attributes.”

MATURE-AGE PRESEASON PERFORMERS

“The one I’d point out is Kiahni Russell, she’s 20 years-old. Kiahni has just completely overhauled her athletic profile and she’s just been so dedicated to her running and strength and conditioning so she’s going to be able to be play a really good midfield/forward role for us this year. She’s got beautiful foot skills, footy IQ, she’s really composed and she’s a leader as well so she’s straight into our leadership group and she’s a really key part of bridging the gap for our younger players.

“The other one’s Asha Dufour who we acquired from West Adelaide. She obviously had a really strong 18s year last year so we’re really excited to get her across because she’s so versatile as a midfielder, wing or forward. Really clever on the outside of the contest, she’s also a nice shot for goal, very driven to be a good footballer, Asha.”