Warriors back with a point to prove

OLYMPIA captain Maddie Black says the Warriors will be out to prove they belong in the Women’s Super League in their first year back in the competition, which begins today.

Two games will kick off the WSL season this weekend, with the Kingborough Lions hosting South Hobart at Lightwood Park today, and the Hobart Zebras hosting the Olympia Warriors at North Hobart Oval tomorrow.

Olympia was replaced by South Hobart in the top division last year, but earned promotion back to the WSL after winning all 21 of its Southern Championship games, scoring 260 goals in the process, and then defeating University in a playoff.

“Obviously we’re going to go and try and win the title, but I guess we’re just trying to prove ourselves after not playing the Super League last year because we missed out on a year of good solid competition,” Black said. “We want to prove ourselves and prove that we deserve to be here.”

Olympia will enter tomorrow’s season opener on the back of taking out the Summer Cup, and Black said the win had given the team a confident boost. She is looking forward to tomorrow’s season opener.

“We’re extremely excited, we’re actually so grateful to be back, we need a bit more competition and I think it’s a great way to start off, playing against Zebras,” she said.

Zebras’ Danielle Kannegiesser said the Warriors were an unknown quantity.

“I’m pretty excited [to start the season], but a little bit unsure as we haven’t played Olympia in a little bit,” Kannegiesser said.

The WSL will feature only six teams this year, after Launceston City and Taroona both withdrew last month. Launceston’s withdrawal leaves last year’s champion, Ulverstone, as the only northern team.