Leeton-Whitton announce A grade coach ahead of 2023 season

Gillespie has a long history at the club and after stepping away from the senior space for a few years is excited to be returning to top grade netball.

Leeton finished their season with a 50 per cent win rate in 2022, and Gillespie hopes to see the squad find better consistency in the upcoming season.

"We've got a lot of young girls that will be coming through the ranks, so I'm particularly looking forward to nurturing development there and continuing the work that Katie Graham, who was our coach last year, had started with those those kids too," Gillespie said.

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"Doing youth development is something really important to the Crows, both in the football and the netball sides of things. They're our invested futures, so to continue that work that Katie was building on last year and, of course, coaches in the past, is something that's very important to me."

While every coach hopes to take their side to a premiership, Gillespie said realistic goals and expectations are important to her coaching philosophy.

She's hoping to see her players not only hit team targets, but create and achieve personal goals too.

"Without a nice even balance of both, you're not going to see the results that you want to see, but I think if you can find that balance then success will come where and when it's meant to," Gillespie said.

"Everybody wants to get to the grand final and that's the goal everybody tries to set for themselves, but if we're going to be realistic, I don't want to put that pressure on the team right at the start of the season."

Building on overall fitness and playing consistency, Gillespie wants to nurture her side to be the best players they can be within the competition.

The team will look different to the side from 2022, with many young players moving out to university, and some of the older players looking at starting their own families, including outgoing coach Graham who is pregnant currently.

While out for the first half of the season, Gillespie said she's hopeful to see Graham back in action in the second half of the year once she's given birth.

"Because we will have a lot of young girls playing in the team, I think it's really important to be able to nurture them so that they can actually stand up and and feel comfortable playing at that top grade," Gillespie said.

"I used to find as a young player because you're a young woman, that when you play with older women who are experienced and have that head, they know how to talk you out physically and psychologically, and I would like my girls to be able to find their way and find their feet comfortably and have that mental strength that they need to be able to take on that challenge."

Leeton-Whitton will begin their netball trials in early February, and Gillespie hopes to see players have already begun working on their fitness and skills ahead of the sessions.

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