Newcastle Olympic's Rosie Copus did her chances of more game time in the top level no harm with an impressive Newcastle Herald Women's Premier League first-grade starting debut against New Lambton at Alder Park last Saturday.
Eighteen-year-old Copus, the younger sister of W-League midfielder Libby Copus-Brown, played in the midfield with experienced duo Keely Gawthrop and Laura Hall and was one of five players to get on the scoresheet in a 6-0 win.
Olympic coach Harmonie Attwill said Copus was "one to watch" for the future.
"Rosie stepped up when we had State Cup and I just hadn't really had a chance to play her as such, but she deserved her shot and she played really well," Attwill said.
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**Olympic reserve-grade player and 13s WPL coach Bek Stuart celebrated a milestone achievement on Saturday when she stepped on field at Alder Park for her 150th Herald WPL match across reserve grade and first grade combined. The 22-year-old winger played with Merewether before joining Olympic this year.
**Celebrating diversity and inclusion will be the focus as Northern NSW Football host their second instalment of the Football Five5 World Cup at Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility tonight.
The five-a-side tournament was first held in 2019 but had to be cancelled last year due to coronavirus.
India, The Netherlands, Zimbabwe, Jamaica, Ireland, Scotland, Turkey, England and Australia are all represented. Teams are mixed and at least one player in each squad must have strong heritage from the country they are representing.
NNSWF female participation and inclusion officer Annelise Rosnell said the hope was to grow the event in the future with a continued focus on inclusion, harmony, fun and celebration through the one common language of football.
"We talk a lot about football being that social mechanism for bringing people together and celebrating diversity and celebrating where people come from," Rosnell said.
"That's the main aim of the event - to bring people together so they have the chance to celebrate their history and their connection to another country.
"But also highlight that football is so diverse and we're all coming from all over the world but we can come together to celebrate and play football through one common activity."
