Words: Matt Dorman

Youthful exuberance will be driving Olympic FC Women when they head to nearby neighbours Souths United Women for Sunday’s opening round clash.

Souths are new to PlayStation® 4 NPL Queensland football but won’t be outweighed in experience by their first-up visitors to Wakerley Park.

Olympic finished sixth of 14 teams in Football Brisbane’s SEQ Women’s Premier League last year and coach Phil Canham is predicting an up-tempo effort from his young charges.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to be entertaining and take advantage of the youth we have,” Canham said.

“What we aim to be is a team that can absorb pressure but can also apply a lot of pressure over a long period of time as well.”

Olympic has retained much of its roster for the inaugural PlayStation 4 NPL Queensland season and Canham has called on his players to each improve over the course of a debut campaign.

“We know it’s going to be tough. Every single player needs to step up,” he said.

“We’re sticking with what we’ve got and we’re developing those players.

“The key for us will be everyone improving on where they were last year and they’ve all got the ability to do it.”

With the likes of SEQ Women’s Premier League Player of the Year Lizzie Doherty and Australian Schoolgirls representative Lulu Pullar amongst Olympic’s squad, Canham believes the new Senior Women’s division will be the perfect proving ground for top Queensland talent.

“All the players are now finally being drawn to the best competition, so we’ve got the best playing against the best week-in, week-out,” he said.

Kick off between Souths and Olympic on Sunday is at 2.00pm.

Souths United Women Player Roster: 1. Megan BYRIEL, 2. Sasha LE, 3. Becky GREEN, 4. Rachel FRASER, 5. Renee MONTGOMERY, 6. Claire URQUHART, 7. Steph WHITE, 9. Rachel CHISHOLM, 10. Kate LAWSON, 11. Kim HOPPER, 13. Taylor JOHNSTONE, 14. Charmaine JOHNSON, 15. Kate SAMIOS, 20. Noran ABAZA

Coach: Byron Hellmuth

Olympic FC Women Player Roster not available at time of publication

Coach: Phil Canham