Taren King will return to Canberra United for her second season in the Westfield W-League in 2018/19.
The young centre-back impressed Heather Garriock across eight appearances in her debut season and is looking to make herself a staple of Garriock’s squad in season 11.
After coming into the squad last year as something of an unknown King made a name for herself at the back and says she will look to build on that this year.
“I exceeded my own expectations in my first season, and Heather’s expectations too I think.”
“Hopefully I can do much of the same this year and continue on with that. Everyone’s goal is to be a first option and that’s what I want to be.”
Across her eight matches King excelled as a solid option at the back, winning over half of her duels, cutting passing lanes and proving to be a strong distributor from the backline.
Garriock said she was looking forward to King returning after her strong first year in the league.
“Taren came to Canberra as a trialist and was signed by us, and was a consistently strong performer at the back during the campaign,” she said.
“She worked hard to establish a spot for herself in the squad and was one of my premier options in the backline by the end of the season.”
“It will be great to work with Taren again and we can see her improve her game even more in this new season.”
King has spent the off-season at Sydney University winning the NPL Women’s New South Wales Premiership, while coaching, working and studying.
“It’s been great,” she said.
We’ve had a really successful season which was very impressive and exciting.”
King has coached the University’s U/10 SAP side, which she admitted was ‘interesting’ and is hoping to contribute off the field in Canberra as well as on it.
“Last year I really enjoyed living there in the community, the life in Canberra and all of that.”
“I’m hoping to be involved in the community. We have a lot of down time so I would like to spend it doing something productive for sure.”
The 2018/19 Westfield W-League season is set to begin in late October.
Find out about more of our signings by clicking here.
