TWO rounds into the season and Footscray’s State League One women are on an even keel with one win and one loss on the board.

Runner up to Newport for the past three years, the Footscray side is the youngster of the competition with five players in the under 17 Victorian side.

With an average team age in the high teens, Footscray is poised to take the next step this year in a bid to shake the bridesmaid tag.

“We have a lot of new players coming into the team this year, which will bring new dynamics and abilities,” team stalwart Abbie Burgess said.

“A few members of the under 17 team have also stepped it up over the pre-season and will be of great benefit this season.

“It has been a long road over the past few years, given grand final results, however this is a new year and a new team, therefore we will go about our training hard, aggressive and with 100 per cent effort and the results should follow.”

Danielle Lane, Danelle Mollison, Katelyn O’Calla-ghan, Alison D’Costa and Gabrielle Dyson will play for the under 17 Big V side this week in Perth.

These youngsters combine with the likes of Burgess, Electra Tomasino, Alysha Moodie, Verity Clough and Rhiannon Birch who all represented Victoria at the women’s Nationals on the Easter weekend.

Moodie and Sarah Mollison will also play at the World Cup in June with Sarah currently at Maryland University on a sport scholarship.

Footscray’s State League men kick off their season this weekend as they look to take the next step in their League One mission.

With two years of experience in the top division under their belts after winning their way up in 2006, the Footscray side has secured the services of Australian Women’s coach Max Madonia.

With Madonia’s guidance and after narrowly missing a finals berth last year the Footscray side will be pushing the top end of the ladder this season.

On top of this, a talented list of juniors is pushing through for senior selection including Chris Plumb and Kane Mollison (2008 Under 19 Australian team members), Sage D’Costa and Leigh Pobega (Under 19 Victorian team members).