Donaldson: JWPL needs five years to improve quality of play
AS THE Jamaica Women’s Premier League (JWPL) continues, national senior women’s head coach Lorne Donaldson has warned that it will need more time to develop in order for the talent pool to be good enough to prove themselves on the international stage.
Donaldson completed a two-day training camp last week with mostly United States-based players as the preparations continue for the Women’s World Cup this summer in Australia and New Zealand. Donaldson said that the increase in the talent pool available to them in this cycle is larger compared to their 2019 World Cup campaign in France with opportunities, as well as tough decisions to be made for spots on the final roster.
However, with the local league continuing its first season back, as well as ongoing plans for the tier-two competition, Donaldson did not sugar coat his assessment of the quality of the league saying that it will need another half a decade in order for the players to be up to international quality.
“It is going to take us a while. It is going to take another five years before we say okay, the level of play is of the quality that we might be looking for (players for the team). There will be good individual players there, but overall it is lacking,” Donaldson told The Gleaner. Right now we are not even close to saying that our teams can compete with say any under 17, or under 18 in the United States or England. “In terms of the football, I hate to say that, but I have seen it. And I have been down there watching some games. So we have to be honest about it and we can’t fool ourselves.”
The league was cancelled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and went into a hiatus for two years until it was relaunched late last year. While pleased that they have got the teams playing, Donaldson said that work needs to continue with emphasis on the young players for them to shine locally, as well as get opportunities to improve abroad.
“I am glad that we have started somewhere, but we are miles from what it should be, and I think we all need to be working on that,” Donaldson said, “That’s what it’s going to take with some of these players who are in high school to develop and to be a part of the league. But, we are not close in terms of competing at the next level (yet). There are good individual players, but with an overall look at the players, there are not enough good players right for us to be competitive outside of Jamaica.”
The Reggae Girlz’s first assignment of the year will be the Cup of Nations Tournament in Australia which will be used not only to continue their preparation, but, according to Donaldson, form in his mind a process to begin narrowing down the list of candidates to make the final World Cup roster.