Western Sydney Wanderers FC have announced the arrival of the club’s inaugural Westfield W-League head coach, former Central Coast Mariners’ W-League mentor, Stephen Roche.
Western Sydney Wanderers FC have announced the arrival of the club-s inaugural Westfield W-League head coach, former Central Coast Mariners- W-League mentor, Stephen Roche.
Roche, a passionate and dedicated women-s football coach, was selected from an outstanding list of candidates to begin the process of developing the Wanderers- Westfield W-League set-up and squad.
Western Sydney has continually produced talented players including Westfield Matildas Kyah Simon, Heather Garriock and Sarah Walsh.
With the area continuing to produce high quality players Roche will now be in charge of finding and developing the next group of stars to come through the region via the Westfield W-League.
Over the past three years Roche has worked closely on the development of many young female footballers which has seen him in roles as NSWIS Assistant Coach (2009-10), Coach NSW State U17-s Metro girls (2009-10), Head coach NSW State U15-s Country girls (2006-08) while also maintaining his role as Master in Charge of Football at Knox Grammar School since 2005.
“Having worked with Steve (Roche) previously I know what a committed and enthusiastic professional he is,” said Western Sydney Wanderers FC Executive Chairman Lyall Gorman.
“His passion and in-depth knowledge of women-s football in western Sydney was an important factor in selecting Steve as our inaugural Westfield W-League head coach, and I am sure he will put together the building blocks that will ensure a competitive foundation squad, as well as one that will influence future talent development and increased participation of girls in grassroots football across the region.”
The appointment will see Roche take control of the recruitment process for the Club immediately, a part of the job he is eager to get started.
“I-m extremely happy to be back in the mix and particularly excited to work in a region I know so well which is a very strong area for women-s football and which has consistently produced a rich vein of talent,” Roche said.
“I-ve been coaching at Football NSW for over 12 years and seen and coached a lot of the players that have come through NSW from western Sydney so not only do I know the talent that has come through the system but also the potential talent that is still untapped in the region.
“The plan is to develop a team that is very representative of the western Sydney area and that provides a pathway for aspirational female players and I-ve already identified some excellent players from the NSW Women-s Premier League as well as some of the current Westfield Matildas.
“I-ll be putting a team together over the next month or so which may also include some overseas based players as well so I expect we will be competitive from the opening whistle of this season-s Westfield W-League.”
