WHILE he'll continue down his decade-length presidency with Woodbridge Cup, Andrew "Pully" Pull has decided to step down from coaching its first-grade Women's Rugby League side.
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Mentoring the ladies squad for the past three seasons, Pully feels the time is right to let someone else take the reigns now, with the upcoming draw drafted for kick-off in late September.
With the side's new chief yet to be determined, Pully says having new guidance will open up another realm of footy for the women, ultimately expanding their progressive skillset even further.
"None of the girls have played a whole lot of footy and there's a hundred different ways of playing the game," he said.
"They haven't been playing since they were seven and they've still got so much to learn, so if we get them a different coach to teach them a different way to play, then it'll be better for their overall experience - they'll get a whole different type of footy to breathe."
Initially entering a side in 2018, the ladies tackle-goers played the first two seasons of the Western Women's Rugby League competition, without a single win under their belt.
Going down to the Mudgee Brumbies in yet another extreme defeat at the time, Pully says it was also the day when he realised how much heart and determination the "Woodies" girls had.
"When they were into the second season, they were desperately short of volunteers, so I ran the water for the girls [playing in Mudgee] and actually really took notice of how much effort they put in," Pully said.
In the third season, which started in September of 2019, everything changed from round one.
In another face-off with the Brumbies, the Woodies girls secured their very first win, holding their Mudgee opponents to nil against their 28 points - and it was a highlight that the coach says he'll never forget.
"I'd never had a prouder day than that first day, because we'd worked so hard for it and I just knew they could do it," Pully said.
I ran the water for the girls [playing in Mudgee] and actually really took notice of how much effort they put in.
- Andrew Pull on first noticing the women's potential back in 2018
"Especially coming from not winning a game for two years - they'd been battered from pillar to post for two years straight - I remember the excitement grow as the girls sort of realised that they could play footy and they could play it well.
"So, we put everything into that first game and we got a win up, we'd got our confidence up. That first win was important ... that first win was history."
The side went on to win a few more games in the third series and ended up as qualifiers for the grand final.
Heading into their sixth season now, the Woodies girls are coming off the back of being runners-up in the last premiership earlier this year.
While the opens crew anticipates who will be the next head honcho, there'll also be a coaching restructure across the board - which includes the 12s, 14s, 16s and 18s female tackle sides.
Ideally, Pully says new coaches need to have an acceptance of the travel requirements - where rotating training sessions have always been a part of the deal.
"I just want them to come in with that [can-do] attitude where they're not going to use the distance of our competition as an excuse," he said.
"Because that's what Woodbridge is - we're all a small-towns-combined club and you just make training and games work."
We put everything into that first game and we got a win up, we'd got our confidence up. That first win was important ... that first win was history.
- Pully on the girls' first win in round one of season three
For his own handover, Pully hopes the new mentor embraces the genuine potential of each player and continues to encourage "positive footy".
"Don't knuckle down and say don't do this and don't do that, just let them play - recognise their individual skills and let them fall into their own places, naturally," he said.
The Woodbridge Cup board members will meet next week in early July to determine the final roles for the September/November competition.
While Pully has put his hat in the ring to coach one of the junior sides moving forward, he says he hopes that the new first-grade coach realises the opportunity that it truly is to coach a women's side.
"It's different from coaching boys and men's sides - you'll be talking and there's always someone bouncing a football, spitting on the ground, squirting someone with a drink bottle," he said.
"Whereas with our girls, when it's time to talk they listen and when it's time to play, they play.
"They haven't had the same tackle opportunities like a lot of the boys have had since they were young, so they're really keen - they just want to learn and they want their game to keeping getting better."
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