Under-15 players from the Wimmera were part of the North Ballarat Rebels’ two sides that locked horns with other representative sides from Tuesday of last week. 

Some of the region’s best junior female talent donned the Western Rebels colours in the under 17 Youth Girls Shield.

All sides returned mixed results throughout the three-day competition in eastern Victoria, with Mr Muldoon pleased with the players’ output.

“As far as a development program goes, we think it was a great success,” he said.

“We saw some great improvement from game one to game two and that was what we were looking for.”

The Western Rebels girls were stoic in their game one loss to North East Border, and despite a crushing second-game loss to Goulburn Valley, Mr Muldoon said they really enjoyed the experience.

“They hung in there and were a bit unlucky to lose the first game,” he said.

“But the girls loved it. There were plenty of laughs and lots of smiles, and that’s very important.”

The Rebels division two side went through undefeated while the Rebels division one team split their fixture with a win and a loss.

Mr Muldoon said the week was a great opportunity to develop skills ahead of Rebels squad training.

“All the boys who were involved will be invited to train with the under-16 squad,” he said.

“They’ll all participate with their regions so they’ll continue to progress with their development.”

Mr Muldoon said the competition was great for the likes of Matt Lloyd – who wore a GPS in game one and ran 10km – and forward Charlie Wilson, who was given the chance to play down back.

Mr Muldoon said  – although still a fair way off – the potential for a women’s under-18 competition would continue to intensify the push for greater opportunities for female footballers.