Mackenzie Davis is more excited by the challenge of leading New Lambton through a rebuilding phase than daunted by it.
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The 23-year-old has been put in charge of the Eagles' 2022 campaign in Northern NSW Football's National Premier Leagues Women's competition.
And the environmental engineering intern, who will be the only female coach in the league next season, hopes her tenure extends well beyond that.
"I knew straight away what a privilege it was and what an incredible opportunity it was," Davis said told the Newcastle Herald.
"Coaching was always something I wanted to try to take seriously while also earning a living, so being given the opportunity to take it one step further was something I didn't want to say no to. I'm about to finish uni, so I thought, 'Why not say yes'."
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It will not be an easy job. The club has already experienced both dizzying heights and the lowest of lows in four seasons since joining the region's premier women's competition.
With former Matilda and the Newcastle Jets' all-time leading scorer Tara Andrews on board, the Eagles make the semi-finals in their maiden season then clinched the premiership-championship double year two.
But a number of player departures, including Andrews and Jets teammate Lauren Allan to the NSW NPLW, and a string of coaching changes since has the club back to square one.
The Eagles finished last this year, posting just one win from 16 games in a COVID-shortened season.
"I've been a part of building female programs before, so I'm used to starting at the beginning and putting the hard work in," Davis said.
"That was something that was more familiar to me than coming into something that's already built. That part of it was less frightening than I thought it would be and I was excited by and enthused by a lot of challenges."
Davis has been coaching since she was 14 and has her C licence. She joined New Lambton this year as a reserve-grade player after relocating from Sydney and ran a miniroos program for the club.
"We've got a really great group of girls returning in the senior squad and some really great youth coming through as well," she said.
"Being able to give those girls opportunities is something I'm really excited about.
"They're players that I hope in two or three years, which is how long it's going to take, will become our confident, calm and collected first-graders. It's something I feel really committed to and we're happy to carry a squad that feels the same."
Also important is being a visible female figure in the game.
"To be able to fly the flag as a female coach at this level, especially two years out from the World Cup, was something that was right at the front of my mind," Davis said.
Davis takes over from Maddy Searl, who recently stood down due to changed work commitments, and is in the process of holding trials to finalise her senior squad for next season.
New Lambton's president of the premier committee Clayton Harrison said Davis was the fit they were after as the club targets future stability for its women's program.
"Mackenzie has the right personality, she's got the right temperament and she's got the right level of ambition for what we want to do with NPLW," Harrison said.
"We will put people around her like Leon Davis, Clayton Zane and Chris Brain, people in the club who really understand football and can mentor her.
"We know she's got the right cultural fit and, given the right circumstances and mentorship, she'll grow.
"By giving her a young team, she's not getting questioned at every corner, and what we want to try to do is take a bit of leaf out of Adamstown and Ryan Campbell's book and say it might take us a couple of years but we're going to do this the right way.
"To some extent, we had success too early in the competition. We didn't have time to settle in. We are trying really hard to get the dials right and that's why we're putting our faith in Mackenzie to grow something."
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