North Queensland assistant coach Jo Butland admits her young side will be up against it at the AFL Queensland under-17 girls' championships in Cairns. Butland, who is sharing coaching duties with Lauretta Dowling, has no doubt her players will do their best to compete, but believes the southern sides will have a sizeable edge in experience."The programs that are in place in Brisbane have been there a lot longer, so the development of the girls down there is a bit further along," Butland said. "Whereas here we finally had an under-16 girls' program this year and got more consistent schools girls stuff happening. That's great, but at the moment we've got a very young team. "While I think we'll be there and show a lot of courage, I'm not sure we'll have the lasting power to get through all the games." She believes Central Coast will be the dark horses. "I think they'll be the surprise packets because they've got a couple of good young players," she said.
Last Modified on 04/12/2012 09:43