After a fortnight of playing at their home base in South Wangaratta, the Devils are heading up the highway to Glen Park this Sunday for their first away fixture of the season.

The women’s division two team will be eager to return to the park after a stop-start beginning of their season.

After a 5-1 thrashing of Albury City in their opening round, the Lady Devils had a bye, but utilised it to stage a friendly against the club’s under 16 boys team.

While the players would be better for the run, women’s coach Kristy Mellor said she was looking forward to recommencing the season on Sunday against Boomers.

“We had a friendly against the under 16 boys, which actually was really fun for the girls to get out there and flex their muscles against the boys a bit,” she said.

“It’ll be my first game in charge, really, because their first game they had, I only stepped in.

“I’m looking forward to it, Boomers are always strong, always a smart soccer club and they’ll have some players who have played before, so we’ll have to be on our toes.

“We’ve got lots of players to choose from because some of the under 16 girls are really keen to start pushing up into div two as well, so that might cause some selection issues.

“It’ll be good fun, it’ll be nice for the girls to get out there and enjoy themselves.”

After stepping into the role of women’s coach officially, Mellor said she spent time toying with which players work best in which positions, and cited the depth and versatility of the playing list.

“To be honest it was actually really good for me to be able to swap positions, I was able to see where the girls played,” she said.

“Some of the girls came in with an idea of where they wanted to play but actually they played really well in another position, so we might put them there.

“It was nice to see, there was some really good communication out on the pitch as well.

“I think the goals came from a few different people [in their opening game], so it’s nice to not rely on one person, but there are certainly some really good strikers

“I’m not someone who has a set team and that’s it, I can’t change it – I like to rotate players all the time so everyone feels part of the result, win or lose.”

Mellor said the experienced leaders in the group would help those newer to the side to shine.

“Kaitlyn Broady is always a strong player, she can play anywhere on the pitch but I’ll probably play her in defence because of her speed and soccer knowledge,” she said.

“In the midfield, you’d have to look out for Issy Christison, a really strong player, strong on the ball, she creates chances.

“There’s this payer, Hannah Walton, she’s an under 16s girl but she had an amazing game on the wing.

“She’s a strong player, she’s quick and doesn’t give up, she’s very tenacious – she had a couple of beautiful runs down the wing, outpaced the boys and was able to cross the ball over.”

The Lady Devils take on Boomers at Glen Park from 9.55am.

For the senior men, this weekend represents the last chance to bank a win before the Easter bye, a crucial component in setting up their season and settling the team.

The Devils will be up against an unknown entity in Boomers, who pulled out of the senior men’s competition last season due to player shortages.

“I haven’t heard much about them, but it is good to have them back,” men’s coach Vitaly Leschen said.

“It was a bit of a shock when they didn’t have a team last year, they were a mainstay in AWFA.

“We have a couple of niggles [in players] but nothing major - the Easter break will be good for us.

“I would love to say something else about team building or something but no, we need to win this weekend.”

The Devils are up against Boomers from 3pm, with the reserve men taking to the field at 1.10pm.