AFTER running through the Northern Academy sides ahead of the 2026 Coates Talent League Girls season, we cross our attention to the full-time teams in the competition, kicking off with Sandringham Dragons. The Dragons have lost a star talent to injury for the year, which provides opportunities to others to stand up.

LAST SEASON

Played: 14
Wins: 8
Losses: 6

Sandringham Dragons finished eighth last season to earn a spot in the finals series and finish third. While no match for Oakleigh Chargers in the finals, they showed improvement on the year before, and with a positive win-loss record showed plenty to build on for the future.

FIXTURE

Round 2: vs. Calder Cannons | April 11 @ RSEA Park
Round 3: vs. Oakleigh Chargers | April 18 @ Kennedy Community Centre
Round 4: vs. Northern Knights | April 25 @ Preston City Oval
Round 5: vs. Brisbane Lions Academy | May 3 @ South Pine Sporting Complex
Round 6: vs. Oakleigh Chargers | May 9 @ Trevor Barker Beach Oval
Round 10: vs. Northern Knights | June 7 @ Trevor Barker Beach Oval
Round 11: vs. Eastern Ranges | June 13 @ Box Hill City Oval
Round 13: vs. Calder Cannons | June 28 @ Highgate Recreation Reserve
Round 15: vs. Western Jets | July 12 @ Avalon Airport Oval
Round 16: vs. Tasmania Devils | July 19 @ TBA
Round 17: vs. GWV Rebels | July 26 @ Mars Stadium
Round 18: vs. Gippsland Power | August 1 @ Morwell Recreation Reserve
Round 20: vs. Geelong Falcons | August 16 @ Trevor Barker Beach Oval
Round 21: vs. Dandenong Stingrays | August 22 @ TBA

Sandringham takes on all the Metro teams across the first 15 rounds, including the likes of Oakleigh Chargers, Northern Knights and Calder Cannons all twice. The Dragons first take on a full-time non-metropolitan member on July 19 where they tackles Tasmania Devils, before facing fourth country teams but never facing Murray Bushrangers or Bendigo Pioneers.

TOP-AGE PLAYERS TO WATCH

The heartbreak story late last season was talented bottom-ager Chloe Williams going down with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury and will miss a large portion of the season in 2026. She has enormous talent and can play on any line, so no doubt clubs will still keep tabs on her recovery and hope to see her in the back-end of her top-age campaign.

Sandringham Dragons have a couple of top-age Vic Metro Summer Hub members in the tenacious Grace Perrett and hard-running Grace McIntyre. The duo are among a group of handy players who have draftable traits but just need to round out their game including smart defender Isla Tucker and explosive athlete Chloe Shipton.

FUTURE NAMES TO REMEMBER

While currently injured, Maya Duane is right up there with the best players from the 2009-born draft crop. The tall midfielder/forward has an incredible ability to create highlights out of nothing, and is so hard to beat in the air or at ground level. When she returns she will add serious X-factor to the front half of the ground for the Dragons.

On top of Duane, Claudia Kogler spent a stack of time on-ball and is just as highly rated internally for her upside but like Williams is also out for the year.. She alongside rebounding defender Charlotte Embelton – who had a massive game in last year’s elimination final loss – are two to note down for next season. Then there’s Luella Hall who is coming off a blistering Talent League Girls Preseason Testing event where she broke the 20m sprint record, but she still has a couple of years.

SUMMARY

Sandringham Dragons are unfortunately missing three of their best players to injury to start the season in Williams, Kogler and Duane, with Williams likely to miss the bulk of it. That disappointment does however give opportunities to others to stand up, with the Dragons in a strong and growing development region. They’ll likely land somewhere in the second half of the ladder.