Coach open to culling herself
HISTORY-MAKING Broadbeach QWFA Division 1 player-coach Beth McLaughlin has wasted no time imposing her expectations on the group and insists even she is not immune to being dropped.
“We had our first meeting the other day and I said to the girls, ‘we’re here to take out the premiership so if you’re not on board, then there’s the door’,” she said.
“Nobody walked out so that was a good sign.”
After a best-on-ground performance in the 2017 grand final against the Kedron Lions, 26-year-old McLaughlin left the Cats to pursue a QWAFL career with Bond University.
“I wanted the opportunity to play at a higher level and try to match it with those girls,” she said.
Broadbeach football manager Matt Littlechild said that McLaughlin’s high performance fitness background persuaded the club to give her the coaching reins despite her lack of mentoring experience.
“Beth was an instrumental player in the 2017 maiden women’s premiership and voted best-on-ground so to have a player of the that calibre back and around the women’s playing group is exciting for the other girls,” he said.
After playing 13 games for the Bullsharks, McLaughlin returns to Subaru Oval as the first player-coach in the club’s history.
“I’m always up for a challenge and if someone tells me I can’t, I’ll show you I can,” she said. “I’m excited to be back at the place where I started playing footy and it’s nice to have been welcomed back with open arms.”
Facing uncharted territory, McLaughlin declared she was prepared to drop herself for the benefit of the team.
“I hope I won’t have to,” she joked. “I’ll be honest with myself and if I’m not up to the standards or have a bad game then I’ll look at that.”
With a background in strength and conditioning, McLaughlin plans to combine her new-found QWAFL knowledge with a rigorous training program to have her players in fighting form come Round 1.
“I wouldn’t have felt as confident (coaching) had I not experienced training and playing in a high performance environment,” she said.
“We’ve been having one gym session a week as well as conditioning out on the park so they’ll be fit come April.”
The Cats are still searching for an assistant coach to support McLaughlin this year.
They will play their first game of the QWFA Division 1 season on April 6.