Southern United midfielder Elise Mamanu-Gray has been named in a Football Ferns squad featuring several new faces for the coming tour to Thailand.
In the first squad named since the resignation of previous coach Tony Readings, stand-in coaches Andreas Heraf and Gareth Turnbull have stuck with an experienced core but also taken the opportunity to throw some new names into the mix.
Mamanu-Gray, Hannah Blake, Maggie Jenkins and Jana Radosavljevic have been called up for the first time, while Stephanie Skilton earns a recall and Grace Jale likewise receives another chance to establish herself in the group.
Football South chief executive Chris Wright said it was great news that Mamanu-Gray had been called up to the national squad.
"We are delighted with her selection and show the progress she has made and she has been identifed through her performance in the national league," Wright said.
"She works hard, always puts the time into her game, got a fantastic attitude and is someone all of our players can look up to."
Mamanu-Gray will line up for Southern United on Sunday in the side’s match against Northern at Tahuna Park.In a significant boost, Amber Hearn — the top scorer for New Zealand at senior level — returns after making herself unavailable for the United States tour in September.
Heraf and Turnbull are now looking to build on the foundations laid by Readings as the Ferns embark on a new cycle that will focus on the 2019 Fifa Women’s World Cup and 2020 Olympic Games. The development of the younger members of the squad will be crucial in this process and — with the likes of Elizabeth Anton, Malia Steinmetz, Nadia Olla, Emma Rolston and Jane Barnett not included in the Thailand tour but very much in the plans — the future looks bright.
Mamanu-Gray has skippered Southern United to a share of the lead in the National Women’s League and has been tracked by Turnbull for some time. She played her winter football in the Melbourne Premier League before being lured back to Otago, from where she earlier represented her country at under-17 and under-20 level.
"I have seen her playing in the last few games in the National Women’s League and she has done really well," Heraf says.
"For her, it’s the same as for the young ones; we want to have her in the squad and she has a good chance to get some minutes in the games."
The Football Ferns will take on Thailand in internationals in Bangkok on November 25 and November 28.
Football Ferns
To tour Thailand
Victoria Esson, Anna Leat, Erin Nayler,CJ Bott, Anna Green, Meikayla Moore, Ria Percival, Ali Riley, Rebekah Stott, Katie Bowen, Olivia Chance, Betsy Hassett, Grace Jale, Maggie Jenkins, Annalie Longo, Elise Mamanu-Gray, Jana Radosavljevic, Hannah Blake, Amber Hearn, Aimee Phillips, Katie Rood, Stephanie Skilton, Hannah Wilkinson.