Four Whanganui footballers selected for Central team in Youth National League

Whanganui footballers (from left) Amelia Couper, Kate Macpherson, Morgan-Lee Cassidy and Kendra Taylor have been selected for the Central team playing in the Youth National League.

It has been a long season for four Whanganui footballers playing in the country’s top domestic youth competition.

Amelia Couper, Kate Macpherson, Morgan-Lee Cassidy and Kendra Taylor were selected for the Central team earlier this year and are four games deep in the Youth National League.

Couper, who is in Year 13, said it was a jump in competition and the team - featuring the best players from Whanganui, Taranaki, Palmerston North, Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne - came together only three weeks before the league started.

“Some other teams have been training since January,” she said.

“The games have definitely been tough and it’s different to play girls only in our age range - usually it’s between 15 and 40.”

Central have a record of one draw, two losses and a win over Waikato’s Melville United.

Cassidy said it had been a great experience to play alongside girls they had played against “our whole lives”.

Whanganui Athletic coach Andrew Macpherson said the league featured the country’s top youth players

“It’s made up of four or five of the best club teams and there’s also the [Wellington] Phoenix youth team,” he said.

“I’ve coached those girls for the last four or five years and it’s been about getting them to a level where they can be recognised and get into a team like this.

“From a personal point of view, I’m chuffed we could get so many in there.”

Taylor, Couper and Cassidy were part of the Whanganui Athletic women’s first team which came second in this season’s Federation league, with Kate Macpherson playing for Palmerston North Marist in the league above.

All four are part of Athletic’s under-19 women’s team that will play in the Napier City Rovers under-19 tournament for the first time this weekend.

It will be the last hurrah for Couper and Cassidy before they head to university next year.

“It’s great to get girls our age together because reps finish at under-16 level and there isn’t much else,” Couper said.

“This will be a big test but we’ve come together really well.

“Recently we played in the Dawn England [under-19 tournament in Lower Hutt] and beat some top Wellington teams.”

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Andrew Macpherson, father of Kate, said the team had drawn Palmerston North Marist at this weekend’s tournament.

“Kate did pretty well at Marist this season and they were like ‘Are you sure she can’t play for us?’.

“I had to say no. She’s ours this time.”

He was confident the Athletic women’s team would remain strong next season.

“We had the Lionesses team [under-18] win the local league this year and we will be looking to bring those players into the first team.

“Players from our reserve team could also be looking to play some travelling football so I think we’re looking good.”

Cassidy said football would not stop after the National Youth League games, with Whanganui’s twilight football season taking place over the summer.

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.