Another five sign on for the Saints in 2022

11/01/2022

The Southern Saints have confirmed the signings of Sarah Black, Tessa Boyd, Ilena Gentile, Margaret Kershaw and Chanelle Slater.

The Saints are excited to announce Black, Boyd, Gentile, Kershaw and Slater as new players for the 2022 season!

Sarah Black comes to us from the St Kilda Sharks, in Div 1 of the South Eastern Women’s League. She has a huge work ethic and a competitive nature and will bolster our ruck stocks. Sarah is always hungry to learn and improve her skills and consistently seeks extra time with coaches to help fast track her development and find a role within the team that will suit her. We are looking forward to seeing what she can offer.

Tessa Boyd was formerly drafted to the Western Bulldogs AFLW team in 2018, a back injury kept her from debuting, and she chose to focus on her rehab and return to her basketball roots. She still has a dream to play football at the highest level and we have seen a great, professional standard from her at training. Tessa is diligent on and off the training track and her body is ready to play football. A highly agile and fit player she will look to be damaging across half forward in 2022!

Ilena Gentile comes to us with a long background in representative basketball and is looking to transfer those skills into VFLW football after some local football at De La Salle in the VAFA. Ilena has that ‘something’ which we picked up on trial day and throughout the pre-season. She is a fast learner and loves listening to feedback so she can keep improving. We are looking to utilise Ilena’s strong body and competitiveness across the backline, but she also has the ability to run through the middle or go forward in season 2022.

Margaret Kershaw is another basketballer turned footballer. She has played some local football with the Whitehorse Colts FC in Div 1 of the NFNL. We will be looking to develop Marg across our ruck stocks, but she also has the ability to run through the backline and can be a tough match up for an opposition key forward. Margaret has had a difficult pre-season so far with a quad injury but she’s slowly starting to integrate back into the main group. She has been diligent in her rehab and getting her body right across the first 7 weeks of pre-season. 

Chanelle Slater is a mature age recruit and has been around the women’s game for a number of years. A great user of the ball with a deliberate kick that can hit you lace out and a solid pair of hands, Slater will be a great addition to our forward line in 2022. Playing with Lyndale in 2021, Slater decided she wanted another opportunity to really take her football to the next level and whilst an early quad injury has hampered her pre-season she is now back with the main group and showing some great signs ahead of 2022.